Union Urges Video Game Industry Workers to Strike This Week

The independent French video game union, Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), is urging “anyone employed by a video game company” across “the entire video game sector” to participate in a strike on June 25. This action is a response to the ongoing wave of layoffs in the industry and the “repeated abuse against workers” by studio executives who “continue to enjoy their lavish lifestyles, even as their studios close down.”

STJV, which aims to protect the moral and economic interests of workers in the gaming industry, announced its “Summer Greve Fest” strike on June 22 through a blog post on its official site.

“The dire circumstances in the video game industry demand an extraordinary response,” the statement from STJV reads. “All signs indicate that the French video game sector is in a critical state. We refuse to stand by while this situation deteriorates. A month after our national strike on May 27, conditions have not improved, and job security is increasingly at risk.”

In a previous update in May, STJV highlighted that Quantic Dream, the studio behind Detroit: Become Human, is set to lay off about a quarter of its workforce (around 95 employees) soon, following the announcement that their latest title, Spellcasters Chronicles, would be pulled from Steam just three months post-launch. Since that statement, the union has reported that the number of affected Quantic Dream employees has now increased to 115.

In light of this, STJV has organized a picket line outside Quantic Dream’s headquarters in Paris on the same day as the planned Summer Greve Fest strikes. The union has called on all video game workers, including those in “game engines, marketing services, streaming, merchandise, esports, online content creation,” and educational roles, to “simply not show up to work” on June 25.

“We will share more details about future actions soon,” STJV added. “Summer has just begun, and it’s going to be intense!”