Workers at Heart Machine, the independent studio behind Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, have formed a union with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9003. The wall-to-wall unit covers all 13 frontline employees at the studio, which voluntarily recognized the union in February after a supermajority of eligible workers voted for the measure.

The organizing effort follows a rough stretch at Heart Machine, after the studio laid off employees in November 2024, then announced in October 2025 that it would end development on its early access title Hyper Light Breaker and cut further staff.

"I decided to get involved in organizing my studio because I've seen so many peers in the industry stand up to protect the craft we all care so deeply about. Watching that momentum grow made me realize that if we love this work, we have to protect it, especially now," said Steph Aligbe, a gameplay tools engineer at the studio.

Heart Machine joining the CWA extends the union's gaming footprint even further. The union counts thousands of employees at Microsoft subsidiaries among its members, as well as staff at EA, Id Software and others. CWA also runs the United Videogame Workers, a direct-join union that launched in 2025, allowing individual game workers in the US and Canada to sign up on their own without elections or employer consent. Large gaming studios like Ubisoft have been undergoing a seemingly endless string of layoffs, and workers are increasingly demanding to have their voices heard.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hyper-light-drifter-studio-workers-form-union-after-rounds-of-layoffs-165828565.html?src=rss

©

© Heart Machine

When deciding which video game to buy, "Is it fun?" is no longer the only consideration. Given the state of the industry, "Do I want to support this company?" is arguably more important. Take, for example, Ubisoft, where things seem to unravel more each day. After the floundering publisher floated even more layoffs this week, workers at its Paris headquarters said, "Enough is enough." They're now calling for a three-day strike.

Unions representing Ubisoft employees plan to strike from February 10 to 12. "With management being stubbornly entrenched in its authoritarian ways, we are calling Ubisoft employees across France to join this strike, along with the five unions present within the company," The Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (Video Game Worker's Union) wrote in a statement.

The strike follows a series of heavy-handed cost-cutting moves at Ubisoft. It recently shut down its Halifax studio just 16 days after employees unionized. Last week, it closed its Stockholm studio and announced additional restructuring efforts worldwide. It also canceled six games and delayed seven others.

Then, earlier this week, the Assassin's Creed publisher proposed cutting 200 jobs at its Paris headquarters. Under French labor law, the company would organize the cuts through the nation's Rupture Conventionnelle Collective (RCC) process. It would require a mutual agreement between the company and the labor union.

ROBYN BECK via Getty Images

Adding even more fuel to the fire, Ubisoft will now require workers to return to the office five days each week. (The company had previously agreed to two work-from-home days per week.) Although Ubisoft framed the mandate as being about efficiency and collaboration, it's easy to view this as a cudgel to further reduce its headcount. One Ubisoft developer, who hinted as much while voicing his opposition to the mandate on LinkedIn, said he was suspended without pay for three days as a punitive measure.

The workers' union saw all of this and decided it was time to act. "We're calling for a HALT to management's obsession with penny-pinching and worsening our working conditions," the Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo wrote. "It's time for a real accountability from company executives, starting from the top! Without the workers, and generous public funding, Ubisoft would never have been able to grow this much. WE are Ubisoft, and WE are shutting it down February 10th to 12th!"

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-173241918.html?src=rss

©