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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

+techonomics

UK video games workers unionize over 'wide-scale exploitation' and diversity issues [techcrunch.com]

Games devs are routinely corralled to "crunch" to hit sequential release target deadlines to ensure a project gets delivered on time and budget. Unpaid overtime is a norm. Long hours are certainly expected. And taking any holiday across vast swathes of the year can be heavily frowned upon, if not barred entirely.

From the outside looking in it's hard not to conclude people's passion for gaming is being exploited in the big business interest of shipping lucrative titles to millions of gamers.

In the U.K. that view is now more than just a perception, with the decision of a group of video games workers to unionize.

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) said today it's setting up a union branch for games workers, the first such in the country — and one of what's claimed as just a handful in the world — with the aim of tackling what it dubs the "wide-scale exploitation" of video games workers.

In recent years the union has gained attention for supporting workers in the so-called "gig economy," backing protests by delivery riders and drivers for companies including Uber and Deliveroo. But this is its first foray into representing games workers.

Also at RockPaperShotgun [rockpapershotgun.com].

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