2023 was a year of major labor movement in gaming studios, with Sega Of America, Bethesda parent company Zenimax, Cyberpunk studio CD Projekt Red, and many more all seeing at least parts of their workforces unionize. Given the often massive instability that afflicts even “successful” game studios—which can shutter after even a single under-performing game—as well as persistent issues with overwork and sexual harassment in the industry, it’ll be interesting to see how the “unionize game studios” movement continues to build on its momentum in 2024.
Meanwhile, the industry might soon be facing labor action from outside its walls, too: Fresh off this summer’s film and television strikes, actors union SAG-AFTRA has gone to its members for a strike authorization against several major game studios. Said authorization having been granted back in September, it’s likely to be a potent tool as the union negotiates with major studios in the coming months.
You can, of course, make video games without actors, a lot more easily than you can TV or movies. (People were doing it for 40 years before the first actors started working in the medium.) But as games get more cinematic, and strive for greater verisimilitude, they’ve become far more likely to tap acting talent as a selling point, and labor issues with actors’ likenesses are only going to get thornier as technology advances.
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