Developers at independent studio ZA/UM, the team behind the critically acclaimed RPG Disco Elysium, have formed a union that was recognized by the United Kingdom’s games industry, marking a first in the country.
In an October 2 blog post on the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) Game Workers website, chairperson Spring McParlin-Jones and organizing officer Eugenia Peruzzo expressed excitement about this development. It’s a big deal, after all, particularly because ZA/UM’s recognized union could provide hope for other developers in the UK looking to gain collective power.
As the blog post noted, this is an “exciting milestone for workers industry-wide” that will give employees and management the appropriate means to negotiate workplace-related matters revolving around mental health, financial stability, and social livelihoods. ZA/UM will elect a committee of workplace representatives–with the IWGB support–to discuss the team’s concerns. In essence, ZA/UM developers will now have the power.
McParlin-Jones reiterated their hope for other game developers to “join us” in the fight for a better industry, stating that recognized unions are how to achieve it.
“Anyone working in the sector can see that the game has been rigged against us for far too long. Now developers at ZA/UM are proving that by coming together as a union we can take back power and shape our workplaces for the better,” McParlin-Jones said. “We need to build an industry where workers can create exciting, meaningful games without sacrificing their social lives, their mental health, or their financial stability.”
Peruzzo added to McParlin-Jones’ statement, saying this recognition is proof of developers’ power and not a one-off agreement, but rather “an avalanche in the making.”
“Our first IWGB ZA/UM recognition agreement is proof of the power that game workers have when they come together, trust each other and join our Union,” Peruzzo said. “Recognition agreements lay the groundwork for a healthy relationship between the company and workers and rebalance the scale of powers after a few terrible years for the game industry and the redundancies we have seen happening at ZA/UM lately. We are looking forward to many more to come in the future.”
In other ZA/UM news, the studio has finally revealed its next project during Sony’s September 24 State of Play livestream. Titled Zero Parades, the espionage RPG implements Disco Elysium’s familiar isometric point of view and randomized dice-roll-like scenarios. It’s slated to launch sometime next year.
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