Game dev union marches through industry event to demonstrate that it's about 'taking action and organizing change'

News
By Contributions from published

The United Videogame Workers took to the halls of the Game Developers Conference to announce itself on Wednesday.

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Union organizers and game developers marched through the 2025 Game Developers Conference on Wednesday, gathering at a nearby park for a rally in support of the just-announced United Videogame Workers union.

The union is part of the Communication Workers of America, which in recent years has been organizing game developers at Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and elsewhere in the US games industry.

"We wanted to demonstrate that what we're building with United Videogame Workers is a union about taking action and organizing change in the industry," CODE-CWA senior campaign lead Melanie Barron told PC Gamer at the gathering.

"A lot of people are coming to us because they've been rocked by serious and devastating layoffs," said Barron. "There's a culture of overwork and crunch. There's discrimination and unfair treatment, and workers deserve a voice and a path to recourse.

"We're going to build public, powerful campaigns that invite as many workers as possible into the movement so that we can transform the industry and respect the incredible talent and skill and effort it takes to create this art. "

From a member of the crowd came a more concise statement: "We make these games, not fucking AI, and not the fucking executives."

See our earlier story for more on the newly formed United Videogame Workers.

Image 1 of 3
Union organizers and game developers gather at GDC 2025.
(Image credit: Tyler Wilde/Future)
Tyler Wilde
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

With contributions from

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.