Workers at Bethesda Game Studios, source of all Elder Scrolls and contemporary Fallout goodness, voted to unionize. It's the first Microsoft-owned game outfit in the U.S. to do so and comprises a "wall-to-wall" union that includes artists, engineers, programmers and designers.
The union was confirmed after 241 developers either signed a union authorization card or indicated that they wanted unionization via an online portal. It follows Bethesda Games Studios Montreal's unionization in late June and the unionization of roughly 300 quality assurance workers within Zenimax, which is Bethesda's parent company.
"We, a majority of developers at Bethesda Game Studios Dallas, Rockville, and Austin, are ecstatic to announce the formation of our union with @CWAUnion," the group wrote on X/Twitter. "Together as #OneBGSUSA, we advocate for the betterment of every developer at BGS, setting the new standard for our industry."
Game development is a seemingly comfortable knowledge-worker business but nowhere is the white-collar social contract pushed harder. Poor pay, long hours, crunch conditions, layoffs and incompetent project management… all normal in this overwhelmingly profitable industry. A pefect place for unions to form and flourish.