Loading Screen: Games Press Union Efforts, Indie Dev Closures and Xbox Fan Anger

The team behind the biggest games site in the world are seeking union protections, the layoffs continue, with two indie studio closures and Xbox's Fans are having a bad week.

Biggest Gaming Press Site to Unionise - The IGN Union

As layoffs and financial pressures strike across the games press - IGN's staff have taken a proactive step.
Over 80 staff across the company have announced the formation of the IGN Creators Guild - a CWA backed union effort that has already signed more than 85% of eligible staff at the company.

IGN is one of the largest games media (and general entertainment sites) in the world, from it's creation in 1996 till today - and for the last few years has had a particularly strong presence in the gaming news sphere as a result of new leadership and staff hires.
This move is designed to give staff a level of control and influence over their workplace, asking for (among other things) fair and competitive pay, affordable health insurance, protections for minority staff and protections against layoffs and the use of generative AI.

All of this is important because if the biggest games press site in the world can have these protections, then smaller sites will have a model to work from - one that will help protect all workers and ensure that there is more to the games press than just being a mouthpiece for press releases.

If you'd like to sign the petition that asks their Corporate Owner Ziff Davis to voluntarily recognise the union, the link is below:

Urge Ziff Davis and IGN Management to Voluntarily Recognize the IGN Creators Guild!

A super majority of IGN creators joined forces to create the IGN Creators Guild and unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA. Now, we need your help to urge IGN and Ziff Davis management to voluntarily recognize our union! Refusing to voluntarily recognize our union will delay bargaining between Ziff Davis and IGN creators. Given our industry is mired in uncertainty, it is urgent that IGN’s workers have an equal voice at the bargaining table in determining how to weather difficulties and build a thriving workplace. Below is our mission statement. If it moves you — or if you’re simply a fan of IGN and what we do — please support our cause by signing our petition and sending a letter to management in support of our union! IGN Creators Guild Mission Statement “IGN has a lot going on” might be the understatement of the century. At any given time, there are countless irons in countless fires as our teams continue to deliver multi-award winning original coverage of games, film and television, technology and more in both written and video spaces. This fact, as well as the awards, the prestige, and the hundreds of millions of monthly visitors, none of it exists without IGN’s incomparable staff. Together, we have navigated a pandemic, multiple entertainment strikes, massive live events seasons, surprising trailer leaks, and whatever other curveballs the multiple industries that we cover have thrown at us. Through it all we have delivered best-in-class articles, videos, guides, live-events, and more, banding together to ensure IGN remains a top player across industries. Now the IGN creative teams are banding together once more, this time to form the IGN Creators Guild. We are unionizing with the News Guild alongside our colleagues at the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, as well as other leaders in the online media space like the L.A. Times, The New Yorker, Vice, and Time. Of our many goals, we first and foremost want to see IGN grow and thrive as digital media continues to become more and more tumultuous. We have been an institution for over 25 years, and the creators of IGN want to see it continue for 25 more and beyond. But to do so, we need support. We need fair and competitive pay for all, including those who are asked to live and work in some of the most expensive cities in the United States; affordable health insurance; and better diversity, equity, and inclusion across the board. We need protection against layoffs amid a hectic media landscape, guarantees of reasonable compensation when those layoffs cannot be avoided, as well as protections against generative AI and similar technologies. We need to be supported in reclaiming necessary rest time when we work long, unavoidable extra hours covering major events and releases. We also need clear paths for career growth, including management training to ensure our team leaders are both supportive and effective. And we must avoid future mismanaged pivots and reorgs, as well as address the ethical editorial concerns that have grown with the acquisition of sponsorship-focused subsidiaries. In the last year alone, our teams have put on remarkable coverage against unbelievable odds. We developed an incredible and unique live-show at a San Diego Comic Con without actors or writers. Our video and editorial teams moved mountains for multiple massive releases and events, including when the most anticipated game trailer of the year leaked early, topping the YouTube charts after a seemingly impossible turn-around. And we continue to put forth unbeatable and groundbreaking original reporting amidst a neverending news cycle across mediums. It is in that same spirit and drive that we form this union now. We stand together in solidarity with one another in a fight for better wages, earned comp time that is supported and enforced, reasonable protections against layoffs, and fair compensation when they cannot be avoided. We believe in IGN because we believe in each other, and we stand before management now requesting voluntary recognition of our unit, as well as the willingness to negotiate in good faith when the time comes. The future of IGN is bright if we fight for it. Let us do so together.

The Action NetworkAction Network

LayoffWatch 2024 - The Slaughter of the Indies

The layoffs do not stop - and the first week of February is no exception. With thanks to Game Industry Layoffs for keeping track.
The current total for 2024 stands at just under 6000.

Threaks

German Indie Dev and support studio - specialising in porting and smaller indie titles of their own.
25 Staff laid off including the CTO as the company shuts down.

Crop Circle Games

As first reported by Game Developer - Crop Circle games have seen cuts in their writing, design and engineering teams for an unannounced project
Unknown number of staff laid off

Visual Concepts Austin

Another Game Developer report - 2K games have laid off "a group of very talented developers" from the team behind Lego 2K Drive and NBA 2k
Unknown number of staff laid off - but this follows a wave of layoffs at the group in September 2023

Cloud Imperium Games

Reports of layoffs at Cloud Imperium Games (Star Citizen) via Linkedin posts
At least one individual

91Act

As first reported in Gamelook, 91Act, developer of the well received BlazBlue Entropy Effect have announced they have laid off all staff
The game released on 31st of January out of Early Access - but per the reporting, it generated "lower than expected revenue".
The founder is the only staff member remaining, and allegedly mortgaged his home to pay severance to staff.

Threshold

Another Game Developer report, Threshold was founded in 2019, the company was preparing to reveal it's first game in March.
Studio was an 11 person team.

The Xbox Influencer Exodus

The rumours of what Xbox are planning to do around exclusives have whipped up waves of hysteria, with the worst possible potential consequences being taken as explicit fact by many of the companies biggest super fans

For those who haven't been following along at home, since the Xbox One launch the Xbox Marketing Arm has been pointed directly towards the creation of a Fandom - built around their brand and designed to encourage people to pledge their loyalty to the brand, not to simply use the brand's product.

With Over 92 Million Views, Fans Made This the Most-Watched Xbox Show Ever - Xbox Wire

It’s been a little over a month since fans around the world enjoyed the Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct and we’re delighted to say that we saw over 92 million views across our first ever double feature, trailers, and segments from the shows.

Xbox WireMike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor

This is summed up well in a scathing section of Kotaku.au's James Wood's write up on the recent layoffs from Xbox.

It’s the ideation endgame of the console wars, a term I felt physical pain just typing. The us and them, the blue and the green (nobody seems to mind what the red does), the Xbox Community and the rest. This divide is one of the oldest tricks in the playbook, but Xbox has infused it with contemporary internet language and cosy vibes; “How do you do, fellow children?” in a kitten sweater and RGB headset. It ceaselessly pumps out gimmick hardware, ranging from controllers to minifridges to toasters. It uses free marketing arms like the Xbox MVPs to push them, reassuring everyone involved that not only is Xbox in on the joke, but so are you. Its social media presence is awash with cutesy community affirmations and gamer-first hashtags.

Xbox Is Not Your Friend

After laying off almost 2,000 people, Xbox finds itself in a position at odds with the community-first image it has cultivated for itself.

Kotaku AustraliaJames Wood

A lot of people really did think that the company/brand Xbox wasn't just their friend, but something they should be pledging their life to, and that's been something Xbox have been quick to capitalise on.
Now that the rumour mill is spinning off it's axis and Xbox is being seen to betray these people.

Sixty Seven Thousand people tuned in to listen to Xbox Superfan Timdog go through the rumours and claims in a 7 Hour Long Twitter Space entitled:

On gaming forum Resetera, Xbox Influencer Klobrille (who has been shouted out by Phil Spencer on Xbox Podcasts previously) announced they'd be leaving that platform and eventually retiring their platform.

Which is seemingly par for the course, with another superfan PeterOvo posting and then deleting the following image detailing just how many of these "community leaders" are leaving.

We've been pretty clear in our expectations from the original video - it's Xbox taking a realistic look at the idea of the console competition, acknowledging they can't win with their current plan and finding a new path.
There's a valid feeling of dissatisfaction to be presented in the actual rumours that some games might not be exclusive. But that's not what these folks are furious about.
That core principle behind the rumours has been extrapolated into the end of all Xbox Hardware, the destruction of the Xbox ecosystem and comparisons to the likes of Mixer or the Windows phone - based purely on the speculation of superfans like the ones above.

Here's the thing - Fandom is a weird concept.
Most of the well regarded models for understanding it hedge on a theory of capital - both acquiring it and expending it.
Fans acquire capital by showing they're bought into the Fandom - this is buying merch or having all seasons of a show in physical media. The more capital you have, the bigger fan you are, or so the logic goes.
But there's another angle to it - creating capital.
This is why Fan artists, writers, musicians and other creators are seen as figureheads, they represent people who contribute to the fandom. They have their own capital to offer both the fandom and the brand - so they must be valued equally by both, right?
These are our Superfans above.

For them, the idea that Xbox is taking a direction that they don't like is effectively saying that their contributions don't matter. Which is what's leading to the emotional reactions presented above, as the influencers Xbox sought to weaponize realise that they aren't equal partners in that relationship.