After the recent events at Telltale Games and Capcom Vancouver, game developers want better working conditions the industry. A trending hashtag #AsAGamesWorker started by Osama Dorias of Warner Bros Montreal, gives an insight into the frustrations and troubles that employees go through in games studios from around the world.
#AsAGamesWorker, I want to work in an industry that puts the well being of game developers in the forefront.
– before shareholders
– before clients
– before management
– before public image
– before established practices
– before corporate culture
– before everything else— Osama Dorias (@osamadorias) October 2, 2018
Developers from Telltale, Ubisoft, Eidos Montreal, Creative Assembly and more, have voiced their concerns to the narrative. The common complaints include that developers should come before Stake holders, clients, management and corporate culture, peer pressure or overworking, employees feeling expendable.
Many developers have taken to Twitter to protest the state of affairs for employees across all disciplines, these developers range from indie level to big studios.
#AsAGamesWorker, I hope to work in an industry where one day, if the internet decides it’s my turn to fall for the sin of having the audacity to be a female game developer, the company I work for will support me instead of throwing me under the bus. I hope that for all of us.
— Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! (@emilybuckshot) October 2, 2018
#AsAGamesWorker I want us to stop wearing overwork as a badge of honor, for our own and our team's well-being.
— Tyler 🦇 Coles (@javadocmd) October 3, 2018
#AsAGamesWorker I want an industry that doesn't see all of it's laborers as fundamentally interchangeable and expendable.
— Spooky Devilmother :: getting ready for DG (@Synodai) October 3, 2018
#AsAGamesWorker I want every department at a studio to feel like they have helped developed the game together, and that no department is treated as disposable or unimportant. That QA is seen just as vital to this industry as engineers are.
— Monkey wants you to vote (@TheDrMonkey) October 2, 2018
Last month, Telltale Games announced to shut down its studio and laid off 225 employees with no severance package. The news was met with a lot of backlash from around the gaming community as employees were left stranded without any prior warning, and now looking for a new job.
Another big gaming studio, Riot Games was hit with sexual harassment allegations last month. A report by Kotaku brought into light of the League of Legends developer’s current and former employees commenting on women’s looks and women’s ideas being routinely discussed, while also highlighting lack of opportunities for women in the company.
Kotaku followed up with a report on allegations against Riot Games’ chief operation officer Scott Gelb, who was accused by unnamed sources to “touch men’s genitals” and “fart near male employees”.
While in other news, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) will hold advising sessions for game developers affected by the string of layoffs in the previous months, executive director Jen Maclean said in a blog post.
It’s been a brutal month for game developers around the world, and like so many people in our community, the IGDA team wants to help the game developers impacted by layoffs and studio closures get back on their feet.
We run IGDA Mentor Cafés, ways for game developers to engage in short bursts of learning within their community, at leading events around the world, and we’re announcing our first virtual IGDA Mentor Café today, with the explicit goal of helping game developers who have been laid off in the past 60 days get help as quickly as possible.
The IGDA’s mission is to help game developers have sustainable and fulfilling careers. Whenever someone loses their job, we’re at risk of losing their experiences, wisdom, and insights as part of the global game development community.”
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