Reform Gaming Now
@reformgamingnow.bsky.social
We are an organization dedicated to rehabilitating the video game industry. #ReformGamingNow Contact us at ReformGamingNow@protonmail.com
Updated this thread with a few new links! Take a look and help out by sharing these resources around!
Reform Gaming Now@reformgamingnow.bsky.social · 4w agoWant to fight back against layoffs in the video game industry? Consider supporting the unions that are fighting to protect workers across the world! Here's a list of some the orgs here on Bluesky, boost their pages and spread the word! (Cont.) bsky.app/profile/did:...
People still wondering about the date of the #PSBlackout: Again, it is announced this way to be approachable for as many people as possible. If it's your first day in boy scout camp and they say, "Go, climb Mount Everest!", you probably wouldn't go at all. Feel free to do more!
Without serious public pushback, trillionaire corporations like Microsoft will continue to treat talented developers like Naomi Green as expendable. Help us break this unbalanced system and #SaveGameWorkers by telling Microsoft to end their cycles of layoffs: shorturl.at/5ruBE
As of this morning, the itch bundle officially broke 100k. This is a lifeline to our fellow workers and proof that solidarity extends beyond borders, both literal and figurative. Never let anyone tell you that things cannot change.
United Videogame Workers-CWA@videogameworkers.bsky.social · 3d agoYou’ve helped us raise over 80k for laid off gamedevs in need so far, and we still have plenty of time left in the bundle’s drive. Everyone who organized this effort was doing so on their own time for the benefit of others. If these companies wanted to, they would. They don’t. We do. Join us. ✊
Today, we are launching the WoWGG-CWA #whatwefightfor campaign, a series focused on our workers pushing for a more equitable Blizzard behind the scenes.
In response to the unprecedented number of game developers laid off this year, we have created a bundle on itch to benefit a Game Industry Hardship Fund, managed by @videogameworkers.bsky.social. More than 100 games for 10+ bucks! Please share widely and donate generously! itch.io/b/3802/game-...
Big thanks to @duncanrobson.com for making the trailer and doing the VO in a pinch, all my pals at forums.insertcredit.com who donated their time to vet games, and @videogameworkers.bsky.social for creating the hardship fund and asking me to run this bundle. Now let's get those numbers UP.
🎉 IT'S LIVE 🎉 The game industry hardship fund itch bundle made in partnership with @necrosoftgames.com is HERE. Over 100 games for $10+ bucks: all funds (save for itch fees) go directly to the UVW-CWA Game Worker Hardship Fund. GOOD GAMES FOR A GOOD CAUSE👇 itch.io/b/3802/game-...
Game industry hardship fund by Necrosoft Games and 109 others
Game industry hardship fund: 127 items for $10.00
itch.io
On July 6th, Microsoft laid off 50% of id Software. Among these cuts were folks like John "Jebus" Roberts, a principal engine programmer on the id Tech engine. For 15 years, Jebus supported the games you love. #SaveGameWorkers by telling Microsoft to end their cycles of layoffs: shorturl.at/5ruBE
Bethesda Games Studios’ Montreal workers are being treated especially poorly by XBOX and we won’t stand for it. Here are the details. If this upsets you let Microsoft know: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide...
"CWA & CWA Canada have jointly filed unfair labor practice complaints against Microsoft alleging the company has unlawfully fired people without giving notice to or discussing it with the union as the employer is legally obliged to do"
Game Developer@gamedeveloper.bsky.social · 3w agoUnions take legal action against Microsoft for allegedly mishandling Xbox layoffs
Workers throughout North America came together to #SaveOurDevs in response to the senseless layoffs Microsoft performed last week. Unions across @cwaunion.bsky.social are saying enough. The id Software union, BFU, plans to fight like hell.
CWA@cwaunion.bsky.social · 3w agoGame workers and allies are taking action at #SaveOurDevs rallies! Earlier this month, Microsoft reported that they would be laying off thousands of workers across the company – impacting hundreds of union jobs. An injury to one video game worker is an injury to all.
NEW: I’ve obtained the full WARN notice from the Maryland Dept of Labor confirming that 379 positions— 121 in Rockville, MD, 165 in Hunt Valley, MD, and 93 remote roles reporting into one of those locations—have been eliminated at ZeniMax Media Inc. Once again, lots of senior staff impacted.
Great article from @arstechnica.com on today's rally in Rockville, Maryland arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/...
Hundreds rally at Bethesda HQ to protest Xbox layoffs, and Ars was there
Union wants to halt a "perpetual cycle" of layoffs, get back to contract bargaining.
arstechnica.com
Stay hydrated out there today, gamers 💪 #SaveOurDevs
Game workers protested outside the Build A Rocket Boy offices on Saturday, as the studio hosted a playtesting event for fans. BARB has laid off 250-300 employees over the last 13 months & has been accused of installing surveillance software on workers' PCs to root out "saboteurs" within the company
Unions are a great way to help developers, but how can regular fans help? Just remember the one-two punch! 1. Support games developed by unionized devs! (An easy way to find out is to look up Studio+Union) 3. Circulate pro-union material (like this post) and keep the conversation alive!
Want to fight back against layoffs in the video game industry? Consider supporting the unions that are fighting to protect workers across the world! Here's a list of some the orgs here on Bluesky, boost their pages and spread the word! (Cont.) bsky.app/profile/did:...
To players who are mad: we see you! The secret sauce to saving the games industry is developing player solidarity with workers. If you're seeing what's happening to gamedevs across our artform and you're mad about how devs are being treated? Tell them!
scenarist / Chris@scenarist.bsky.social · 4w agoThe company owners seem to want me and other ordinary players to not only lose interest in ES but actively hate them. We know who makes the games and who actually puts the love and labor into the games. Do they think we don’t know?
CWA Canada will fight for laid-off Microsoft-BGS workers.
CWA Canada will demand laid-off Microsoft-BGS Montreal workers are treated fairly
MONTREAL (July 6, 2026) – CWA Canada, the union representing Montreal’s Bethesda Game Studio (BGS) workers, says it will do everything possible to help the dozen workers laid off there today.…
cwacanada.ca
Microsoft has eliminated an initial wave of 1,600 jobs across its Xbox division, including hundreds of union video game workers represented by CWA. Our union will take all necessary legal and contractual action to defend our members and their rights. cwa-union.org/news/release...
Union Video Game Workers Fight for Rights Amidst Xbox Layoffs
"When Microsoft decides to treat the workers who built Xbox as expendable, it should know who they’re dealing with. This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight wit...
cwa-union.org
The short answer is: whatever they’re able to negotiate w/ company. The baseline protection granted to all unions at inception by NLRB is Status Quo, which basically means that workers are entitled to the environment they already work in, and co must bargain with the union about changes like layoffs
No union employees at Blizzard were impacted by today’s bloodbath—and I sincerely doubt that was because the powers that be think that we’re all vital. Odds are, they wanted easy cuts. Status Quo makes you not easy. The best time to unionize was a year ago. The second best time to unionize is now.
Alongside the current highlights, if you want to help out the previous wave of Rockstar Union organisers in their quest for justice, hit up this link: actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...
Support Rockstar Workers Fighting Unfair Dismissals!
Last week over 30 members of staff at Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar were fired en masse in a “calculated attack on workers”. The IWGB described Rockstar’s actions as ‘the most blatant and rut...
actionnetwork.org
Really hate the framing of these layoffs as a reset when they've been doing layoffs again and again for the past two years. Despite admitting they had a 3% profit margin (AFTER all their acquisitions) this fiscal year. Profitable, Just not as much as their competitors. So lay everyone off I guess
Kotaku@kotaku.com · last mo.Xbox is preparing to lay off around 3,200 individuals, part ways with Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, and possibly Arkane Lyon in what CEO Asha Sharma is calling "the most significant res... https://kotaku.com/xbox-layoff-3200-most-significant-restructure-history-2000712836
I see a lot of people asking "where do you even go when this many people lose their jobs at once?" the answer is that a lot of people leave an industry entirely, which is the whole point of seismic level layoffs in any field: the executive class wants their workforce to remain arbitrary deskilled
I say it AGAIN: Athe architects who got us here STILL HAVE JOBS or have been graced with the ability to RETIRE with fat fucking payoffs so they can have summer homes and take "time to rest". Meanwhile the ones doing the work have to find jobs IMMEDIATELY because we don't have retirement or savings
Changed the name of the organization to Reform Gaming Now. The previous name, Project S+, was actually a reference to Initial D lol.
microsoft still hasn't officially informed video game unions of impending layoffs, and many of them remain mired in contract negotiations that microsoft has stalled for years. but that doesn't mean unions don't have options
![“[Zenimax QA] agreed to a no-strike, no-lockout clause, which effectively says they can't lock us out of work and we can't stop work,” said Mitchell. “That keeps the peace while the contract is alive. But these other units that are still bargaining don’t have those terms, so they have a pretty credible strike threat right now.”
“One interesting thing is that because all of our development units are still in bargaining, currently they all still have that credible strike threat,” Goin added. “That means that the development teams behind World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online, [Bethesda Game Studios]—which includes the Elder Scrolls and Fallout IPs—could all theoretically make a credible strike threat, and we are all part of the same parent union.”
That, of course, would be a particularly drastic course of action, but short of that, union members have already—just this week—held a press conference and spoken out publicly, actions that would have put non-union workers at risk. Meanwhile, CWA continues to negotiate with Microsoft over layoff protections even as the clock ticks down.
“I will say, this should be a galvanizing moment for anyone who's not in a union right now,” said Fatima. “Layoffs are going to happen. If they don't happen now, there's going to be more layoffs in the future. We work at Microsoft.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gdejlhcswjbzraadoltdpps/bafkreia52gbfy2u2mdvowqbvum3twqpl7qbhqaele72hyv72imuhdm33zi)
Aftermath@aftermath.site · last mo.Even with layoffs looming, Microsoft unions continue to fight for an industry where people aren't "disposable" aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox...
Proud to announce our HARDSHIP FUND: uvw-cwa.org/hardship-fun... If you've been recently laid off and need support, we got you.
