How do we stop the next round of games industry mass layoffs?

nanoUFO@sh.itjust.worksmod to Games@sh.itjust.works – 49 points –
How do we stop the next round of games industry mass layoffs?
rockpapershotgun.com
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The only way to stop this is to stop working for the companies that do it. That's never gonna happen though, people gotta eat.

Wait so your answer to "how do I stop my company from firing me?" is "Quit" ?

I'll give you points for being technically correct (the best kind of correct), but I don't think it's really in the spirit of the question.

Well, instead of working at Blizzard you should work at Mom and Pop's Games Inc. Or make your own company with blackjack and hookers.

Some industries are known for being predatory though, so it's hard for workers to change anything when an industry can prey on an endless pool of applicants lining up to pursue their passion.

And consumers are not reliable beyond bad press. Strong unions are the best hope, but that is much easier said than done.

Even unions can't entirely stop mass layoffs. "we won't work" isn't much of a threat when you're being fired.

Yeah but normally, if the union does its job, the employee that aren't fired don't work as well.

The only way to make a company change is to hurt their bottomline.

Yeah, but in the numbers we're seeing that's of limited weight in negotiation. I'm not saying unions are bad, just this is one situation they struggle to counter.

Here, if there are enough workers, then they don't need to join a bigger, external union because they have enough weight to change things.

Otherwise, smaller companies where there isn't a lot of workers, they can join a bigger union that has a lot more weight.

A union isn't magical, but it's a great first step towards better conditions. But taking that first step is hard because workers have a lot to lose, especially if working in the US.