The gaming industry needs to become more like holywood
The gaming industry needs to become more like holywood
As games get bigger and become more cinematic (and more expensive), there will be studios that grow and grow and then make big layoffs in a lull.
The coders, designers, and need an overarching union together from which they are contracted to work on projects. In fact, the writers and designers could probably work with the existing unions in Hollywood.
The huge studios would function just like in Hollywood. And yeah they would want to pump out those blockbusters, but nothing would stop indie developers from developing. I would allow for consistent and fair discussions for the unions and studios as to how pay will be done. It will also put in safeties for crunch and other abuses.
I'm not saying Hollywood is some perfect working model. I'm just saying it makes way more sense as a model for how modern AAA games are made.
I'm sorry, but your reasoning is absolute nonsense. Maybe game developers should unionize, but suggesting that it should work like Hollywood is pretty ridiculous.
The huge studios would function just like in Hollywood.
Okay, so fuck the developers at big studios just like how most of the people working on movies get fucked now? You think because a deal was reached by the union that the big studios aren't still just running to the bank with their loads of cash? The recent strike (and most strikes in Hollywood) were mostly about residuals. You know why? Because people who aren't above the line in the credits get shit pay. At least in the games industry most people are employees, get paid up front, have a salary, and whether the game succeeds or flops they get their money. And most people don't get laid off between games. You're getting paid your salary even while there is downtime. In Hollywood, if the movie flops(*), you're shit outta luck, my friend. Hope you're happy with whatever you made during production and you're able to find your next gig quick. Because you're not an employee of the studio, you were working for a production company on this one movie and now you gotta fend for yourself because the movie's done and so is this LLC.
(*) which brings us to the big fucking asterisk in how Hollywood "works". Movies don't make money. Not on paper anyway. It's so bad, it even has its own name: Hollywood Accounting. The gist of it is that they use creative accounting techniques so that profit sharing agreements (like the residuals that were just fought so hard for by the unions) pay as little as possible.
And yeah they would want to pump out those blockbusters, but nothing would stop indie developers from developing.
What stops indie developers from developing now? Indie game developers have it way better than indie movie makers. They have better platforms for distribution, a larger audience, and much lower cost to entry.
I would allow for consistent and fair discussions for the unions and studios as to how pay will be done.
Yeah, because that's what Hollywood is known for...
It will also put in safeties for crunch and other abuses.
Crunch (and other abuse) still happens in Hollywood production, so.... Nope, sorry.
I'm just saying [the Hollywood model] makes way more sense as a model for how modern AAA games are made.
No fucking way. As someone who was a salaried employee for 15 years in the A to AAA game industry over 7 projects, some of which failed but I still got paid, with bonuses and stock awards and job security, please fucking no. I'm glad I didn't have to fight for a new gig every couple of years and hope for residuals.
66Very well said. I think there is an argument that the gaming industry would benefit from more unionisation (there are very few sectors that wouldn't benefit from it!), but emulating Hollywood doesn't seem like the answer.
16I think it's fair to say they're are some significant similarities between the two industries. They both focus on large, multi year creative projects with unknown returns. I'm not sure emulating Hollywood is the answer, but they can at least look at how existing Hollywood unions have approached addressing any similar problems
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I hope OP is aware of how underappreciated and thrown away visual effect studios tend to be in Hollywood.
42Yeah this is another point I could have added to my rant...
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As games get bigger and become more cinematic (and more expensive), there will be studios that grow and grow and then make big layoffs in a lull.
Do you think this doesn't already happen?
18Studios actually got tired of doing this, because rehiring is expensive, and ended up on a post launch DLC pipeline to get closer to keeping everyone working.
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Heck yeah, game industry workers are long over due for unionization. CDPR developers just had a headline in the news about unionizing after this latest wave of layoffs.
6Permanently Deleted
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Absolutely agreed. I think because the gaming industry is relatively new, it lags behind other sectors on unionisation, and that is definitely something that should change. Not necessarily to emulate Hollywood, but unionisation definitely.
3There needs to be a tech-workers' union. (Not just for gaming.)
1Yeah, that would be ideal. Although whether game artists would be best fitted to a tech workers union or an artists union (which does exist in some places) is a question that would need to be answered.
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I agree. Both aren’t perfect but the gaming industry is far worse (and so is software development in general) with abuse and lack of mental health resources.
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