this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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CD Projekt Red devs are forming a Polish games industry union after a wave of layoffs earlier this year (www.vg247.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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From the article:

In an FAQ on the union's website, it's explained that discussions of a union began after the layoffs at CD Projekt, which amounted to roughly 100 people. "This event created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response," reads the FAQ. "Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Unions don’t stop lay-offs, but this is still a strong move and probably the most likely to succeed. CDPR needs to find new income now that they don’t have a game on the horizon, so they need devs to produce.

Literally, the power is in the devs’ hands here. CDPR's only option is to either work with the union or lay them all off and then not release any new products and go bankrupt.

Hopefully, it spreads to more European countries and becomes normal business for games to be made with unions in Europe

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

keep in mind, CDPR isn't just a game studio, they own GOG, so not releasing a game doesn't necessarily get then at 0 income. Although not as big as valve of course, thats like saying valve would be broke if it didn't release games (and it rarely releases games nowadays)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

eh no. it's not like saying that at all, as you point out yourself, they are very different in terms of scale.

However we do have actual data here, because CDPR is publicly traded and produces financial reports. according to their Q1 financial report, gog had a net profit of around 56k euros. this is after it's big comeback from being "unprofitable" in 2021, where they basically moved everyone out of gog and onto other projects or laid them off.

So we are talking about a situation where CDPR would have to lay off everyone aside from the few gog employees that are left, and exist as a shell company that just pays the hosting bills.

this is not "like saying valve would be broke if it didn't release games" as valves primary source of income, is not making and selling games, it's getting 30% of 99% of game sales on the pc platform via steam.

[–] ramblinguy 1 points 1 year ago

I really want to buy from Gog but

  1. Their games often don't work as well in multiplayer, at least not with steam users where the majority of my friends have their games. Along with this, it's a pain getting steam workshop mods working
  2. Their bundles kinda suck without sites like Fanatical or Humble offering gog codes

That said, I do buy from them when it's an older game like heroes of might and magic (goes back to the site's roots as Good Old Games I guess). Or when it's a single player experience without a lot of mod support, like Jrpgs

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Its a scale, but they wouldnt make 0, which was the point. Its not solely a game dev studio.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Until last year, they would have made negative money. Now they make effectively nothing.

If that's the point you want to make, then it's a pointless point.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

GOG is barely profitable, though, and that was back when CDPR was the golden child of the games industry. I don't think it counts as much of a revenue stream for the company.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One issue is that unions have failed to globalize while industries have. CDPR could simply chose to bypass the union by opening a dev studio in a country with no or less union presence.

Given the recent wave of layoffs in the game industry, they'll have no shortage finding capable people.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

i don't buy into this defeatist attitude at all I'm sorry.

to do that without working with the unions in good faith, they would have to lay everyone off then meander for a few years rebuilding somewhere else. it's not a quick process. and then probably release something of even lower quality than their recent releases.

the only way to do what you are saying is to work with the unions for the current projects and work to build non union studios for future projects. which unions would probably fight.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not trying to be defeatist. I'm just advocating for unions to stop focusing on the local aspect. Transnational cooperation is what is needed in unions today.

Something which larger unions, such as the steel and car industry unions in Europe have been trying (and mostly failing) to do for almost two decades.

Companies, by and large, have used the globalized economy to sidestep local action for almost 30 years now.

Ignoring this is simply a recepy for repeating the mistakes of the past. Especially in software, where there is no physical production equipment at all, and in games, where talent and labour is plentiful.

Unless you have an organization that reaches as far as the companies you're trying to bring to the table, you will simply be outmanœuvred.

You also overestimate the level of union participation if you think they would need to lay off everyone to break a union strike.

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong, but I've been through the proces twice, both involving union action, both in the software industry. Once as part of the workers delegation to the negotiating table. Dismiss a company's ruthlessness or resourcefulness at your own peril.

Local unions can only hope to hold off the axe until current projects where the required know how can not be rebuilt or transfered in time are done.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Devs are not as easy to replace as factory workers, EU and US/CA software talent is top tier. I'd imagine even factory workers aren't so easy to replace these days.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or sell off their assets to a US publisher and become another EA sacrifice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I think currently it should be changed to Microsoft sacrifice

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Aren't layoffs the norm for the games industry? You hire a bunch of people to make your new AAA title. A few years later, the game is out and the bugs are fixed, and now you don't need all these employees anymore. Rinse and repeat when you're ready to make the next AAA title.

Not defending the practice, but developers shouldn't be surprised when they're laid off after the company deems that they're no longer needed.