North American Video Game Workers Launch Union at GDC

In collaboration with the CWA and AFM unions, a dedicated, industry-wide union for employees in the games industry was founded and presented at GDC. In Europe, and especially in Germany, more and more gaming employees are also organizing themselves.

GDC 2025 is the scene of a potentially historic development in the US and Canadian video game industry. This year freshly younded United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA) was presented to the industry in San Francisco. It is an industry-wide union with direct membership, established as part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) was also involved as a partner.

"The creation of this union was not done in isolation; it’s a cumulative effort by the thousands of video game workers who have been fighting for years to redefine what it means to stand together and reclaim power in one of the largest and highest-grossing industries on the globe," said Tom Smith, CWA’s Senior Director of Organizing. "These workers are taking a bold stand, joining together to build power for the workers behind the games we all know and love."

The founding was preceded by years of increasing organization among North American employees in the games industry. The grassroots movement Game Workers Unite started at GDC in 2018. Five years ago, the Communications Workers of America launched the ‘CODE-CWA’ campaign, where CODE stands for Campaign to Organize Digital Employees. According to the CWA, more than 6,500 employees in the tech and gaming industry have joined the union since then.

"The formation of United Videogame Workers-CWA is an exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry," said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. "As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more of 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."

UVW-CWA: "Take back our lives"

In any case, the UVW-CWA has clear goals, which it formulates in a mission statement: "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."

The union is open to all employees in the industry in the US and Canada. However, video game contractors, freelancers, indie developers, unemployed workers, and those who are already organized at their workplace are also welcome.

The situation in Germany

The founding of the union aligns with a trend that can also be seen in Europe and Germany. In Germany, the service trade union ver.di supports employees in the industry with its Gamedev's Roundtable, helping them organize in companies through works councils. At the last gamescom, ver.di formulated and communicated demands that were later rejected by game as too "generic."