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.
“We’re not playing anymore,” the crowd chanted. “We demand a living wage.”
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.
