‘Grand Theft Auto’ Maker Rockstar Games Asks Workers to Return to Office Five Days a Week::Rockstar Games, a division of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., will ask employees to return to the office five days a week beginning in April as the video-game maker enters the final stages of development on its next game, the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI.
I’m an engineer who has done game dev work; we are not immune to being abused by the owning class. In the tech industry right now finding a new job isnt great when everywhere is firing, and not everyone is in a position to switch jobs (like me I can’t risk destabilizing my insurance right now so I’m locked in for at least 6 more months). More unions gives all unions stronger voice and tech workers could have a lot of sway and funds to put toward the class war if they’d stop thinking of themselves as above working class concerns. My work just spent the last few years making rock stupid decisions and everyone at the company knew it except for the execs, and when the axe came down the engineers and other workers here paid the price. The game industry is renowned for abusing workers in basically every way and I experienced a lot of that myself. Unions could fight against crunch time, get better pay and benefits for game devs, help keep studios from mass firing people after a game ships, etc.
That’s all true for game dev but not the rest of tech. If you know that something is wrong you flee before it actually goes bad. Also you can interview for new jobs before you leave the previous one so you don’t have an insurance issue.
Tech workers aren’t above working class concerns. But I’m sick of having to fight the rest of the working class to make any change. I’ll help, but I’m not going to put in a ton of effort for something to help others when those others are hell bent on not receiving that help.