Ruty Rutenberg’s Post

Yesterday, Zenimax workers were added to the Labor Neutrality Agreement between CWA (Communications Workers of America) and Microsoft. This definitely showed a glimmer of hope for its layoff-impacted devs, but how effective is it? In a small yet complete context - After the MSFT acquired AB in 2022, QA workers from Raven Software and Blizzard Albany started unionizing because they were severely under-compensated and undervalued. (This is not the story for only ABK QA workers, right?) However, AB opposed recognizing Albany QA workers as a union, and surprisingly, Microsoft was not against it at all. MSFT acknowledged this issue and signed a labour agreement with CWA backing the QA Workers Union. In 2023, Zenimax workers also formed a union called Zenimax Workers United, backed by CWA, to improve the game industry's working conditions. Even they were voluntarily acknowledged by MSFT all along, with yesterday being a moment of happiness for them. After being added to the agreement, Zenimax workers can now unionize and manage their own working environments without any interference from MSFT. So, the real question is how beneficial this agreement will prove regarding your job security at MSFT. Allowing unionization might give the game devs a sense of power, but does it guarantee their job security? Studios were still shut down, people still lost their jobs, and MSFT hasn’t broken any silence on it even now. Many were impacted this year by MSFT alone. We can’t comprehend even a single per cent of the problems they must be going through. But what we can do is find resources for them! So here’s a list of resources we have been tirelessly collecting to provide game developers with every tool that could possibly help them at any game development stage. The Layoff Support Kit 2.0 (Link in the comments) This Support Kit contains: 1. YouTube Channels, Playlists, and Videos: 219 Resources to learn basic and advanced Game programming concepts. 2. Unity and C# Boot Camps: Over 50 vital sources to learn Unity and C#. 3. Reading Resources: 394 tutorials on game programming, designing, art, animation, and game engines. 4. Free Engine Assets: 200+ free 2D and 3D game engine assets to help you in building games. 5. Podcasts: Over 30 podcasts on developing games, Virtual Reality, and how indie developers can grow from games industry experts. 6. Tools and Game Engines: Widely used game engines and game art tools across the industry. 7. Communities: 91 largely known Reddit and Quora communities dedicated to all things video games. 8. Frontline Warriors: A list of all the top warriors on LinkedIn working day and night to help the layoff-impacted folks get back strong in their careers. I am also requesting Kelly Bender, Alexander Rehm, Caitlin Cooke, Jordan Mazer, Ruty Rutenberg, Hailey Rojas, Kevin F., Kat Craig, and Ali Farha to drop their resources in the comments below or add them directly to the Support Kit 💪 #layoffsupport #gamedev