Dead Island: Riptide has been seeing a major uptick in player count on Steam as of late. The 11-year-old Dead Island spin-off has received a new surge in players, who have begun to breathe some new life into Dead Island: Riptide.
Sega of America Union Workers Ratify Contract Less Than a Year After Recognition
27.03.2024 - 17:59 / ign.com / Raven Software / Of America
Today, workers at Sega of America union AEGIS-CWA have announced they have ratified their first contract with Sega, less than a year after their recognition as a legal union.
In a press release, AEGIS-CWA revealed that the worker vote to ratify the contract passed, allowing the contract to go into effect. The contract includes a number of worker protections, including raises for all unit members (roughly 150 full-time and temporary employees), Just Cause protections, layoff protections including a recall list and severance, commitment to crediting all workers on games they work on, and a number of other benefits.
"One of our most notable items is our grievance process," said Sega localization editor and AEGIS-CWA member Em Geiger. "There's extra security knowing we have in place a system for bringing issues to the table, such as arguing Just Cause in a potential layoff. If the company wants to do something that the unit doesn't like, we can grieve it, bargain over it, have our say before anything is finalized. And concerning Just Cause, we're now the second unit in this industry in North America to have protections against arbitrary discipline and discharge."
Sega of America workers first announced their desire to unionize in April of last year, citing desires for better pay, improved benefits, and workload balance. The union received legal recognition the following July following a vote, making it the largest multi-department union of organized industry workers, encompassing Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Marketing, Product Development Ops, Sales, Quality Assurance, and other divisions.
However, in January of this year, Sega of America laid off 61 staff as it moved to outsource QA and localization, a move which impacted AEGIS-CWA members. At the time, the union said it was able to negotiate to double the number of saved jobs, and offer severance to temporary workers.
"The mass layoffs SOA implemented were an enormous hit to our numbers, and to our overall morale," Geiger said. "We negotiated severance packages and some employee retention, but there was an undeniable shift once the grief of those losses settled in. But in spite of this, after months of work, we have our contract."
Unionization remains a hot topic in the games industry as more and more unions form across major studios. Earlier this month, a group of Activision QA workers formed the largest US video game worker union to date. Other unionized teams in the US include the Zenimax QA union, Raven Software, and Blizzard Albany, voice actors have joined SAG-AFTRA, while overseas Avalanche Studios recently unionized, and France has long had Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Video (STJV).
"We are by no means the
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gamerant.com
15.04.2024 / 17:23
Steam Game Gets Unexpected Player Count Spike 11 Years After Release
rockpapershotgun.com
15.04.2024 / 16:43
LawBreakers is staging an unofficial comeback, five years after it (and its makers) shut down
Five years after LawBreakers shut down, we're getting to play the gravity-defying multiplayer FPS again thanks to fans. LawBreakers was the first game from Boss Key Productions, a studio co-founded by Gears Of Wars lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, and it had delightful ultraviolence beneath its uninspiring genric look. Alas, it did not sell well. Boss Key closed less than a year after launch, and the game soon followed. But after years of work, a group of fans this weekend successfully ran the first public test for a workaround to play the game again. While there's no clear launch plan yet, more playtesting will follow.
eurogamer.net
15.04.2024 / 11:53
Ratchet and Clank 2016 receives new update eight years after release
Ratchet and Clank has received a new update, eight years after its debut in 2016 on PS4.
gamerant.com
13.04.2024 / 02:33
Ratchet and Clank Giving Away Free Weapon Eight Years After Launch
Insomniac Games has revealed that the Bouncer weapon can be claimed for free in 2016’s Ratchet and Clank via a new DLC drop. This classic weapon giveaway comes on the eighth anniversary of the release of Ratchet and Clank and gives fans a new reason to dive back into the game’s chaotic action.
gamerant.com
12.04.2024 / 07:41
Dragon's Dogma 2 Player Beats the Game in Less Than 2 Hours With No Gear or Weapons
Capcom's RPG Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't even a month old, but one speedrunner has cleared it in less than two hours, all while playing «naked.» The new record adds to the tally of Dragon's Dogma 2 runs being racked up by highly skilled speedrunners.
droidgamers.com
11.04.2024 / 16:21
No Starvation Here! Grab Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition At Less Than A Buck
The challenging survival game Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition has seen a price cut from $4.99 to $0.99. So, if it’s been on your wishlist but you were holding it off, this might be the right time to check it out. Developed and published by Klei, the game first dropped on Android in October 2016.
ign.com
11.04.2024 / 15:41
You Can Buy Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition for Less Than $6 on PC Right Now
Are you bursting at the seams to play more Fallout after watching the Amazon TV Series? Then have I got news for you. Obsidian's Fallout New Vegas is an RPG for the ages, and its Ultimate Edition on PC is currently down to just $5.79 at Fanatical.
gamerant.com
05.04.2024 / 17:19
Resistance: Retribution Getting Surprise Update 15 Years After Launch
To the surprise of many, Bend Studio is releasing an update for the version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution that's playable on PS4 and PS5. Sony has been bringing classic PSP games to the PlayStation Plus Premium tier of its subscription service for the past couple of years, with Resistance: Retribution one of the most noteworthy handheld games available on the service.
ign.com
02.04.2024 / 11:43
You Can Currently Buy Seven Fallout Games for Less Than $23 on PC
I seriously wanted the headline to be, "Own every Fallout game for less than $23" -- but that's technically a lie and we don't do clickbait here at IGN, right? In reality, you're missing out on some obscure titles (sorry) like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel on the PS2, but this is the best we've got and it's still pretty damn good for what you're getting.
rockpapershotgun.com
28.03.2024 / 20:59
Sega Of America staff have ratified a union contract, the first to do so at a major US studio
Sega Of America employees have become the first a major US video games studio to ratify a union contract. The contract covers guarantees minimum yearly pay increases for around 150 staff through 2026.
techradar.com
28.03.2024 / 11:57
Nintendo of America to lay off contractors ahead of Switch 2's release, according to report
In case you were wondering, yes, the games industry is still undergoing a period of mass layoffs. According to a new report, the latest round seems to be from Nintendo of America ahead of the release of the much-anticipated Nintendo Switch successor which appears to be slated for a 2025 launch.
polygon.com
27.03.2024 / 17:55
Sega of America workers ratify union contract, protecting 150 employees
Workers at Sega of America voted Tuesday to ratify their first collectively-bargained contract with the U.S. arm of the video game company, granting new protections and raises for about 150 full-time and temporary employees.