‘Our industry has been mined’: Video game workers protest at The Game Awards | games

It’s the night of the 2025 Game Awards, a major industry event where the best games of the year are crowned and major publishers reveal their upcoming projects. In the shadow of Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater and next to a giant satanic statue promoting the new game Divinity, which will be announced on stage later that evening, stands a group of people wearing bright red T-shirts. Many of them carry signs: a tombstone honoring the “death” of The Game Awards’ Future Class Talent Development Program; A bold black and red graphic that says “We’re done playing”; and “wanted” posters for Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick and Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer. This is a protest.

The protesters, who were nearly banned from public spaces outside the Peacock Theater (“They knew we were coming,” one joke goes), belong to the United Video Game Workers (UVW), an industry-wide union with direct accession to North America, part of the Communications Workers of America. “We are here today to raise awareness of the plight of game workers,” says Anna C. Webster, chair of the independent commission, under the hot Los Angeles sun. “Our industry has been stripped of resources by these corporate overlords, and we figured the best place to raise awareness of what was happening in the games industry was at the peak, the final boss, as it were: the Games Awards.”

Webster points out several things here. Layoffs of more than 40,000 workers have devastated the industry over the past few years; Just last month, RockstarGames, the developer of Grand Theft Auto, was accused of union busting after firing more than 30 employees (the studio denies this, saying the employees were leaking confidential information), and artificial intelligence is rapidly being injected into the game’s development processes. The industry seems unwilling to deal with these issues.

“I recently read that a three-minute promo at The Game Awards cost more than $1 million,” says the association’s local secretary, Caitlin “KB” Bonfiglio. “[Despite] And with the pomp and circumstance of all this, they never seem to acknowledge the historic amount of layoffs that have occurred in the industry.

For UVW, there is a fundamental problem here. “It’s all about greed,” Webster insists. “Anyone who works in the games industry can understand that our art form is sold for parts to make a lot of money for a few people. And they don’t care about the games. They don’t care about the art. They just want their money.”

For those who work in gaming, the problems plaguing the industry are clear. But how can UVW show that the issues faced by those in the industry affect players too? “If you’re someone who loves video games, if you’re frustrated by games that launch buggy and cause chaos, if you’re frustrated by games and are eager to cancel them without warning, it all ties into what we do here,” says Treasurer Shervin Uduana. “Giving us protection from layoffs, making sure our bosses can’t deny us healthcare, making sure they can’t replace us with AI — it will lead to better games for players and more ambitious, interesting, and creative projects. It’s truly a win-win for the players and a win-win for the workers.”

There is a clear love of the industry that permeates this group, and a desire to make the medium and the work they hold dear better. The Game Awards are a big night, one that can help support smaller indie studios and highlight great voice actors. UVW knows this.

“Have a great time today, and tomorrow, let’s wake up and start organizing for better workers’ rights and a better gaming industry,” Uduana says.