Nathan Poorbaugh’s Post

🤔 Please explain to me like I'm a 5 yo: Why more USA white collar roles aren't unionized? 💡 Public Statement from CWA Following Layoffs at Microsoft Xbox Game Studios Publishing: https://lnkd.in/g76UNNPD Per Communications Workers of America, "While union representation does not always protect against layoffs, collective bargaining does give workers a voice in the policies that affect them, including how layoffs are handled." #Layoffs #Gaming #Technology #FinancialServices

Today on GamesIndustry.biz... (Friday, April 12th 2024) 1. Your must-read today is Brendan's latest This Week In Business, which calls for games leadership to stop treating layoffs so light and emphasises the human impact of letting staff go https://lnkd.in/esnPM4g6 1b. In that article, Brendan looks specifically at the situation at Prytania Media - and today the company shut down a second studio, Possibility Space https://lnkd.in/egceYRix 1c. Continuing the layoff theme, the IGDA has called for companies to take more action to prevent or minimise them (including six recommendations on how to do so) https://lnkd.in/eJiPmSrz 2. Your other must-read is Rob's weekly column, where he discusses whether subscription services can rescue the AA game https://lnkd.in/eUP47TqU 3. In case you missed the BAFTAs last night, Baldur's Gate 3 won five categories. Here are the full results https://lnkd.in/eHemhybT 4. Having already won it's antitrust trial against Google, Epic has now filed an injunction to try and get more changes (specifically to allow third-party app stores to be available via Google Play) https://lnkd.in/eQqg6NYy 5. And Avalanche Studios has entered collective bargaining agreements with Swedish labour unions https://lnkd.in/eF_bG2dQ

It's disheartening to hear of friends being laid off after working grueling hours to come up with incredible games they pour their heart and soul into. These games produce millions of dollars for an industry worth well over a hundred billion. If these big companies aren't careful they'll see walk outs like the rest. Good article with some insight on some of the recent layoffs. "Union representation can't always protect against layoffs, but through union representation and the bargaining process, video game workers can establish greater transparency and policies that put our needs first, including layoff protections." https://lnkd.in/gBgFnRaf

Japan seems immune to many of the layoffs and trends seen abroad. Employee protections play a major factor in ensuring this stability for employees. Layoffs are incredibly difficult to implement under Japanese employment law. Companies need to be under severe financial difficulty and at risk of insolvency and they have to have exhausted all other cost-saving measures. There are also cultural factors - reducing their workforce can reflect poorly on a company's reputation with the public and prospective future employees. https://lnkd.in/guGdNiVa

I've had a number of people ask me whether I think unionization of the video games industry would stop layoffs like yesterday at Bungie. Obviously I have a highly engaged opinion on that particular studio, but yes, I do think that unionization would help bring about better management decision-making. If management knew that layoffs would require an automatic 90-day salary payment and 180 days of COBRA coverage (for example), rather than the 30 and 30 I'm hearing was offered, that extra expense for the company might make management make smarter decisions so as to avoid having to pay it. If they knew that their future salary pool would be diminished by the amount they have to pay the laid-off employees, they might react differently. Then again, I worked with these people, so I have opinions about whether there was anything that could have produced a different result than we saw yesterday. Those classic cars aren't going to buy themselves. Aside: yes I've linked to an Aftermath article. You may or may not be able to access it. If you can't, they're worth a sub.

Almost 20,000 layoffs in the Games industry in the past 18 months and many more to come. The truth is a lot of the studio bloat that preceeded this was due to companies trying to up their ‘sale value’ by employing more staff. However the overhead of a large PAYE roll is the single largest cost offsetting any income made from sales. Perhaps it is the sharded share ownership of bigger companies where every 1% owner wants a retirement fund out of a company sale that has angled many companies towards bigger valuation and therefore a bigger team to achieve this. But in the games business it is your product IP that always holds the value, every office, piece of office equipment and member of staff you have to pay for is an overhead reducing profit. It is for this reason that reducing excess staff numbers is a painful but necessary step to protect core staff numbers until the investment money starts to flow again. Also it is a warning that having a horde of small shareholders pushing to maximise their investment in a company comes at the price of pushing and commiting to a limited variety of company structures, even if the prevailing business climate shows those strategies to be highly risky. The trick is to either suck up the guilt and lay people off when the going gets tough, or to keep the team as trim as possible and resist the urge to grow it too quickly just because you can.

Just this week I saw the sad news of layoffs at Humble Bundle. Over the past few months, we have seen several game studios facing layoffs, reflecting the broader trends in the tech market. Last week, I read a very interesting article about how Japanese gaming companies have avoided layoffs: https://lnkd.in/dQhEwJ2E Japanese companies undoubtedly prioritise long-term stability, with employee well-being taking precedence over short-term shareholder gains. This is in stark contrast to other parts of the world, where executives often prioritise quarterly results and are more willing to cut jobs to boost profits. While Japan is not without problems with its overworking culture, its approach challenges the need for constant layoffs in other regions. It shows that prioritising employee wellbeing and financial viability can co-exist. #Layoffs #humblebundle

I just read this compelling article on Hard-Drive. It should be noted beforehand that this is specifically about this years layoffs. If you can think of anyone that deserves to be spotlighted on this list PLEASE name them. The industry deperately needs to showcase them https://lnkd.in/ebbtDygD

“If the industry is booming, why are there so many layoffs? Who is benefitting? Who stands to lose? And what can we do about it?” Worried about the future of your industry? This article dives into some key considerations as industries shift and evolve. https://lnkd.in/eWYjYe-8

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