Recently, there has been an ongoing discussion about unionization in the video games industry. With massive games like Red Dead Redemption 2 being made and reports online about alleged stressful work environments at Rockstar Games, it’s not far-fetched to imagine that the hard working devs would want to unionize. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the CEO of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, shared some opinions on the matter. He said that “it’s hard to imagine” why these developers would want to unionize, but that the company will follow laws and work together with everyone involved to come to an agreement if that is the direction the developers want to go.
Before going into that, Zelnick offered some insight into unions and when they are needed, saying:
Unions tend to develop when labor relations are not typically non-existent. And typically unions have been most beneficial when there were more workers than there were jobs. And where the jobs were low-paying jobs. We have fewer workers than we have jobs, and they’re high-paying jobs.
Zelnick then gave some details about why he feels that it is “hard to imagine” that the developers would want to unionize. He said from where he’s standing, things seem to be quite fair. He did state that if the developers want to have this discussion, it is something the company will do:
Right now, Take-Two has 500 open positions. There are 220,000 or so people employed in the US video game business. They make about $100,000 on average, maybe more. It’s hard to imagine what would motivate that crew to unionize, but we’re a compliant company and will serve the law. If our colleagues want to engage in collective bargaining, then we will.
What do you think about Zelnicks’s take on unionization in the video games industry? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
