CD Projekt Red workers form union after layoffs
Some staff at CD Projekt Red, the Polish developer of Cyberpunk 2077 and the Witcher games, have formed the Polish Gamedev Workers Union in response to recent layoffs at the studio.
The union is open to anyone working anywhere in the game industry under a Polish contract, although at present it only has a company commission at CD Projekt Red (with an unknown number of members), and will initially be focused on improving the lives of employees there. It’s part of a much larger Polish union, OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza.
The union said it was CD Projekt Red’s decision to lay off around 100 workers — 9% of its workforce — in 2023 that prompted its formation. The company has just released Phantom Liberty, the first and only expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, and is now winding down work on that game as it builds towards a new Witcher title and a Cyberpunk sequel, as well as several other projects.
“We started talking about unionizing after the 2023 wave of layoffs,” The Polish Gamedev Workers Union said in a FAQ on its site. “This event created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response. Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis. [...] We believe that the mass layoffs are a danger to the gamedev industry and we believe that unionizing is a way for us to preserve the industry’s potential.”
The union said its priority was to give CD Projekt Red staff a voice in company decision-making, with a view to increasing employment stability. It also wants to help workers’ voices be heard on working conditions “in the long run.”
In an interview with Polish site CD Action, union founders
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