The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has announced the launch of United Video Game Workers (UVW-CWA) in partnership with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). The “direct-join, industry-wide video game union” was revealed this week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California.
Since it is a direct-join union, anyone working in the video game industry in Canada or the United States can join, including developers, artists, QA testers, and more. The union is also open to freelancers and contract staff.
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“The creation of this union was not done in isolation; it’s a cumulative effort by the thousands of video game workers who have been fighting for years to redefine what it means to stand together and reclaim power in one of the largest and highest-grossing industries on the globe,” said CWA’s Senior Director of Organizing Tom Smith in a press release.
“These workers are taking a bold stand, joining together to build power for the workers behind the games we all know and love.”
The next focus of the members of the UVW-CWA will be the gathering of signatures for a petition demanding dignity and job security for all video game workers, especially those facing layoffs. According to the GDC 2025 State of the Game Industry, over 10% of video game developers who participated in the survey said they were laid off in 2024.
“The formation of United Video Game Workers-CWA is an exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr.
“As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more an afterthought. They are subject to endless cycles of layoffs and rehiring as corporate executives pursue short-term profits at the expense of a sustainable future.”
The UVW-CWA mission statement said they want to “take back our lives, our labor, and our passion from those who treat us like replaceable cogs; to empower our fellow workers; to link up arms with the laid off, with the freelancer, with the disillusioned contractor, with the disenfranchised and the marginalized, with the workers laboring invisibly to keep this industry afloat,”
