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U.S. and Canadian video game workers launch union with Communications Workers of America

The United Videogame Workers-CWA union was announced at the 2025 Game Developer Conference.

March 19, 2025 7:00 PM

UVW-CWA

Video game developers are gaining an additional bargaining chip as the Communications Workers of America has created a new United Videogame Workers union. The union seeks to ensure job security for workers in an industry that has suffered tens of thousands of layoffs over recent years.

On March 19, 2025, the Communications Workers of America announced the creation of the United Videogame Workers-CWA union at the 2025 Game Developer Conference. This new union brings together video game workers in the United States of America and Canada in an industry wide partnership.

Text Reads: “Our mission is to take back our lives, our labor, and our passion from those who treat us like replaceable cogs; to empower our fellow workers; to link up arms with the laid off, with the freelancer, with the disillusioned contractor, with the disenfranchised and the marginalized, with the workers laboring invisibly to keep this industry afloat,” reads UVW-CWA’s mission statement. “We are going to create a game industry that works for us, one that nourishes its talent and invests in its future, rather than constantly seeking short-term profits. We are the ones that make the games, so we must be the ones that set the terms of how we work.” — Source: UVW-CWA

The launch will see UVW-CWA members gathering signatures for a petition that demands dignity and job security for all workers. The industry has been hammered by layoffs over the past few years following the surge in hiring during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year we’ve reported on layoffs almost every week.

In the press release, UVW-CWA notes that over 10,500 jobs were lost in 2023 with 14,600 lost in 2024. The statement goes on to say that even whole studios were closed by “some of the largest and most profitable corporations like Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment.”

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr had the following to say about the new United Videogame Workers union:

The formation of United Video Game Workers-CWA is an exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry. As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more an afterthought. They are subject to endless cycles of layoffs and rehiring as corporate executives pursue short-term profits at the expense of a sustainable future.

The point about profitable corporations closing studios is an apt one. Microsoft paid out $9.7 billion in buybacks and dividends during Q2 FY25 and yet it announced layoffs and job cuts across gaming, security, and sales divisions. Hopefully this United Videogame Workers-CWA union will help with developer job security and see teams continuing to create games players love.

Sam Chandler

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Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler

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