Interview: Keywords Devs Couldn't Afford To Work, So They Unionized
You may not have heard of Keywords Studios, but you’ve definitely played its games. A prolific support studio, Keywords devs have worked with Ubisoft, Square Enix, EA, Nintendo, and many, many more industry giants.
We recently interviewed several women who work at Keywords in various departments, about how the studio's work-from-home policy during the Covid-19 pandemic was actively helping marginalised people get into the gaming industry - especially other women. The flexibility of working at home meant that devs didn’t have to put their careers on hold if they had children, as many women once did.
Related: A Four Day Work Week And More Job Security: What The Workers Behind America's First Game Union Are Fighting For
Our conversation was positive, and there was no indication that this helpful policy was going to change. Until, very suddenly, it did.
“There was a direction given by Keywords Studios that we were going to be returning into the office five days a week,” says Keywords quality analyst, James Russwurm. “Our pay was really, really low[…]if you wanted to go to the office every day, you're looking at about a 30-minute car drive to the office, and then you're probably looking to pay about $250ish a month just for parking.”
Russwurm works with a team of QA workers who are currently supporting BioWare. Just coming out of Mass Effect Legendary Edition’s development, they’re now well underway with Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
His team made the news this month when they voted unanimously for unionization, following a battle with bosses over the return-to-work order. But even before this, these BioWare contract workers had already faced issues with Keywords.
“Minimum wage here in Alberta, which is what our testers are starting
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