The Video Game Industry

They already do. It's just spelled differently.

"Fortnight" is an anachronism. I looked up the etymology and it is literally a portmanteau of "fourteen nights", which is rather on the nose. It preserves the Germanic custom of reckoning time by nights, which is fascinating from a cultural and historical perspective but doesn't fit with any of our other chronological terminology.

More rumors on EA wanting to sell.

• The story focuses on Comcast wanting to spin off NBC/Universal and merge EA into it.
• EA has also been in talks with Disney, Amazon, and Apple, but Disney has decided not to.
• EA has been increasingly wanting to sell as other companies have been bought out.
• The Disney one would have been similar to the Comcast one, with Disney spinning off ESPN and merging with EA

>more rumors

First I've heard of it.

Surprised they went to Disney if this is true. Disney has made it very clear that they don't want to directly step into the video game market (or some reason) and prefer to license out their properties.

It's because Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two failed that Disney don't want to step directly into the video game market.

Edited by CookingCat on May 20th 2022 at 2:36:51 AM

Certain money. Virtually no risk. Sure, they could theoretically earn more money by making games themselves, but when you factor in the development cost, the profit you might get from making one yourself versus the profit you're guaranteed from just licensing it might just not be worth the risk.

Edited by djoki996 on May 20th 2022 at 2:37:00 AM

It's now official: testers at Activision-owned Raven Software have voted to form the U.S. video game industry's first major union.

Woot!

At last some good news. Good on them.

May they be the first of many.

I'm not as gung-ho about unions as many of the folks here, but given the way the industry abuses its workers and the government fails to stick up for them I see no meaningful alternative, so good on them.

Edited by Fighteer on May 23rd 2022 at 5:07:29 AM

No need to be gung-ho. If workers aren't getting the minimal pay and working conditions for a decent life, and the government isn't stepping in, they should organize and collectively bargain. It's about as basic as it gets.

Edited by Ramidel on May 24th 2022 at 11:33:25 AM

That’s not what we were told by by the billionaire classes though.

Are you suggesting they’re wrong?

Edited by Deadbeatloser22 on May 24th 2022 at 9:03:49 AM

...Goddamn it. No offense but you really shouldn't lay out a statement that has a well-known reaction to another troper. It's borderline bait.

Edit: In acknowledgement of your changed post, I'll say that's better.

Edited by fredhot16 on May 24th 2022 at 1:13:06 AM

My views on Musk are well-documented, and I agree that that's incitement - not to mention offtopic, unless and until Musk expands into the video game sector.

Curious question: is it morning where you are, Red? You seem more active now.

Anyway, cheers to the first video game industry's union! May all your fees be paid on time and your lunch breaks be unbroken!

Edited by fredhot16 on May 24th 2022 at 1:07:10 AM

Currently just about 5PM (I'm in Tokyo, so Japan Standard Time). This is around the time of day when I hit my work quotas and/or get tired, so I goof off more.

And yes, here's hoping this becomes a trend. It'll never expand to Japan, unfortunately, but maybe it will, if it can start growing in, say, Nintendo of America and force change bottom-up that way.

OK, fixed. Because this is still a systemic issue.

Well, now you made my earlier changed post awkward. You can't do anything right today, can you?

Edited by fredhot16 on May 24th 2022 at 1:16:12 AM

I'm genuinely curious who is baiting and who is taking the bait at this point. I think we've reached multiple layers.

Anyway, good on these folks for organizing. Hooray. Down with capitalism. Exactly one of those was sarcastic.

Edited by Fighteer on May 24th 2022 at 8:01:22 AM

Eh, it's not like capitalism has no place for unionization. It's just a way for workers to make sure they get their piece of the pie.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that they need to do that to get their slice of pie, but it is what it is.

...I could go for some pie right now.

Edited by M84 on May 24th 2022 at 8:02:39 PM

Especially since the gaming industry is probably one of the biggest sources of the "how dare you ask for reasonable pay and benefits, you should be paying us for the privilege of working here!" mindset where people will burn themselves out in record time just to have a chance to work in video games.

It's extremely unhealthy and really difficult to regulate, so a union is the best response.

The vidya game industry more or less perfected the art of gaslighting employees into giving 110% for less than 100% compensation.

Exactly. This industry is desperately in need of worker solidarity to fight the frankly horrifying abuses that its owners have baked into the culture. It's an ideal case for unionization.

Edited by Fighteer on May 24th 2022 at 8:10:14 AM

EA Tells Employees It Won't Speak Out on Abortion, Trans Rights

Not that I expected better from EA but still blech.

At least they didn't go on a tangent about dogs in a not-so-subtle dogwhistle the way Playstation's CEO Jim Ryan did.