Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher studio CD Projekt forming a union
Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt are forming a union in an effort to represent and provide a voice for “all Polish gamedev workers” while improving industry conditions, after around 9% of the company’s development studio CD Projekt Red were laid off earlier this year.
With the development of Cyberpunk 2077 wrapping up and the next entry in The Witcher saga in the works, staff at the RPG game maker have formed a union that’s open to all Polish game developers. The Polish Gamedev Workers Union (PGWA) comes a few months after the CD Projekt Red layoffs, with the goal of “creating games in a stable, fair, diverse, and healthy environment.”
The PGWA says it “Started talking about unionizing after the 2023 wave of layoffs when 9% of Red (that is roughly 100 people) was let go.
“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,” the PGWA website says.
The videogame industry has been hit heavily by layoffs recently with Wolf Among Us 2 studio Telltale, Fortnite maker Epic Games, and Sega’s Creative Assembly all looking to reduce staff.
The PGWA Union is part of the nationwide Polish Trade Union Workers Initiative, giving game developers access to legal support, experience, and a large network while still being able to independently operate within the videogame industry.
As of right now the union wants to gather more members and has reached out to the CD Projekt board to start a dialogue, as the PGWA is currently still in a trial period, and thus not legally established, until around mid-December of
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