CD Projekt employees form a union
CD Projekt employees form a union
I am so happy for them and proud of them. This is the correct response to unnecessary layoffs or any other worker abuse. I hope more people in the industry will follow their example!
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EPIC is laying off 900 people so Tim Sweeney can follow his stupid dream of a Meataverse. He even said this in his "apology letter" where he writes, that he spends too much on metaverse, so he has to lay off people, but then he ends with the promise to continue to overspend on the same thing going forward.
He lays off 900 people, 1/3 of them even core people making his game(s).
It is stupid decisions like this that make the layoffs "necessary", not anything actually related to the development of games, when it comes to these big developers/publishers.
Don't let them fool you that this could not have been prevented.
https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/layoffs-at-epic
For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.
and
About two-thirds of the layoffs were in teams outside of core development. Some of our products and initiatives will land on schedule, and some may not ship when planned because they are under-resourced for the time being. We’re ok with the schedule tradeoff if it means holding on to our ability to achieve our goals, get to the other side of profitability and become a leading metaverse company.
He is totally fine with crunch because he on purpose understaffed his core development teams, he is happy for an upcoming community event while having laid off all the staff for that and will continue to make the same mistake again, while laying off 900 people at a time where getting a new job is hard and where many of them rely on finding a new job or losing their working visas.
Fuck him! Do not defend him!
Well that's nice. Games industry is not known for treating it's employees fairly. Or even humanely. I don't know what the situation is in Poland, but I hope this is a positive development for them.
Reports of months of crunch before Cyberpunk's release make the image pretty clear. There's bunch of small indies and some midsized contractor companies in Poland, but not many on AAA level. Techland, CDP and People Can Fly (I think they are independent from Epic again?) are the only ones I can think of. Oh 11bit maybe.
good news for developers means good news for players too so: good news all round
I'm all for unions. But I'm not sure how it translates to good for players. Unions exist for fair wages and working environment, not direction of how games should be made.
Edit: People sure seem to get the wrong impression with my question. As I said in the very first line, I am for unions. They're great and we should strive for fair working wages and hours, especially in 2023 where wages are stagnating while having massive inflation. We should have happy employees and I prefer my games made by happy employees. Failure to keep the wages up is creating shit ton of societal problems.
Issue is the delusion people are presenting here. Unions are not magic. It doesn't automatically improve unrelated things. What people are missing is that there is no evidence the union has ever advocated for a better product. If one exists, despite my desperate attempt to find one, then it's clearly a fringe case. All the replies are making a huge logical leap of simply saying happy worker produces better product with no reasoning behind it. Unions never argue for better product. That's just not what unions do. It argues for the betterment of workers.
Unionizing increases productivity for some sectors. But they're usually rare and only seen in specific industries. They generally have no significant impact on productivity based on research. If it straight up increased productivity and made better products, every company would love it. The argument is counter-logical. Companies do what is efficient. Even if we assumed individual productivity is increased, there's still no evidence that these individuals would have the capacity to change the direction in which the product is being made in the upper tier.
We need unions. But unions aren't magic.
They have the ability to raise the standards of quality of the finished product.
not direction of how games should be made
Of course unions can and do have more power in the direction of the game. Employees can also voice concerns to managers and owners without the fear of a bullshit termination. They're pretty awesome for everyone.
"How can I make this about me?"
Somehow they think less work means more game. I dunno, we're way too deep into a circle jerk to hear any other opinions. Good for you to actually speak the obvious. Unions actually cure cancer too.
Finally, some gaming news that are not about layoffs💪
Not just at CD Projekt. This is a trade union!
good for them!! glad to see more and more places forming unions these days
Omg that's so important.
That's great, I hear CD Projekt has some real problems with overworking their employees.
Edit: (right before cyberpunk released)
Employees at CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio behind the game, have reportedly been required to work long hours, including six-day weeks, for more than a year.
They could sense the layoffs coming
Poland's game dev workers, not CDPR workers. In Europe unions are organized by economic sector or profession not employer and participation is also by individual (you don't need to ask permission from your colleagues to join one).
