The independent French video game union Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) is calling for “anyone employed by a video game company” across “the entire video game sector” to strike on June 25, in protest of ever-rising layoffs across the industry and “repeated abuse against workers” by studio bosses who “continue to lounge in their mansions with indoor pools, even if their studios are shut down.”
STJV, the self-described independent union “created to defend the moral and economical interests of workers in the video games industry,” announced its “Summer Greve Fest” strike earlier today, on June 22, in a blog post on its official site.
“The exceptional disastrous situation in the video games industry calls for an exceptional response,” reads STJV’s statement. “Everything points to the French video game industry being in a critical situation. We refuse to let this situation play out without taking action. One month after our national strike on May 27th, the situation hasn’t gotten any better, and even more jobs are under threat.”
As STJV stated in a previous post in May, Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream is currently poised to lay off a quarter of its staff (roughly 95 people) at some point in the near future, following the announcement in the same month that the studio’s latest game, Spellcasters Chronicles, would be removed from Steam, less than three months after its release. However, since STJV’s previous statement, the union has noted that the number of affected Quantic Dream workers has risen to 115.
In response, STJV announced that a picket line will be held outside Quantic Dream’s head office in Paris on the same day as the planned Summer Greve Fest strikes. STJV also requested that every video game worker, including those in “game engines, marketing services, streaming, merchandise, esports, online content creation” and teaching positions, “simply not show up to work” on June 25.
“We will communicate further details on future actions at a later date,” SJTV continued. “Summer has only just begun, and it’s going to be hot!”