Two wins for abortion rights: Voters in Kansas and Missouri easily defeated ballot measures that could have threatened abortion access in their states
KB ❤️🔥 UVW-CWA
@square2mom.bsky.social
✨ creator of (VAL)IANT (https://valsguide.com/) ✨ organizer @videogameworkers.bsky.social ✨ teaching at usc games (& elsewhere) ✨ weirdo lefty feminist game designer ✨ square2mom.carrd.co
Devs, pay attention to who is actually, practically offering support to our laid off colleagues. It’s not the companies, it’s not the ESA, it’s the union, it’s us.
United Videogame Workers-CWA@videogameworkers.bsky.social · 6d ago🎉 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-...
A reminder that the absolute best thing you can do if you want to see more projects like this is to get involved and JOIN UVW. Money is great but volunteer time is infinitely more valuable and in short supply, plus you’ll meet amazing people and learn new things!
United Videogame Workers-CWA@videogameworkers.bsky.social · 6d ago🎉 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-...
🎉 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
many of my favourite games were made using free asset packs, stock RPG maker assets, stuff bought off asset stores. If you abandon caring about the process and just AIgen garbage, people will know - not just because of how it looks, but because your lack of interest in your own work will be evident
Heather Flowers (500FF DEMO OUT NOW)@hthrflwrs.bsky.social · 7d ago"But as a solo dev--" You must learn the power of your own limitations. If your art is crap, either get better at art, figure out a way to make its crappiness look intentional, or ask for help.
this kind of work—not to mention aftermath's own stance on AI—is enabled by subscriber support. and hey, as part of hater week, we're currently having a sale. perfect time to join a cool community and help us grow
Aftermath@aftermath.site · last wk.As part of Hater Week, we're running two sales: your first month of our Reader tier for just $1, or a year of our annual Member tier for $75 (that's 25% off!) Existing Readers can upgrade, too! aftermath.site/aftermath-subs...
This talk by @square2mom.bsky.social was an absolute highlight and gave me so much to think about. Games are such powerful tools to educate, reduce stigma, build empathy and connect us. 🩷
Save the Games. July 29 and 30. Rochester, NY. Worried about our all-digital future? Want to know how researchers interact with game history? What the challenges that game studios are facing? All that and more, just weeks away. www.museumofplay.org/save-the-gam...
Save the Games: A Digital Preservation Symposium - The Strong National Museum of Play
museumofplay.org
Game 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.
this was such a beautiful thing to be a part of. we all lined up one-by-one on the curb, to visualize our numbers (more than 50!), stunning. not to mention, we were in solidarity with at least 100 other game workers around the US and Canada on 7/15. there are far more of us than there are of them!!!
Bree, Captain of The Unreliable 🌌🎮 @STLV@dhampirvampire.bsky.social · 3w agoI wanted to give a shout out to everyone who attended the @videogameworkers.bsky.social rally in Irvine, CA yesterday in solidarity w/ the Obsidian devs! 🫶🏻 Glad to see we had people stop by and genuinely listen & ask questions as to why we were out there too. #SaveOurDevs @cwaunion.bsky.social
I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who attended the @videogameworkers.bsky.social rally in Irvine, CA yesterday in solidarity w/ the Obsidian devs! 🫶🏻 Glad to see we had people stop by and genuinely listen & ask questions as to why we were out there too. #SaveOurDevs @cwaunion.bsky.social
Disdain because it’s perceived as a children’s medium and because at some level, the suits’ disdain for work done by craftspeople.
Fryda Wolff@frydawolff.bsky.social · 3w agoOne animator put it plainly: “You have no idea how frustrating it is to see press release after press release touting how much money our animated film made and how many nominations we got; then [the studio] turns to people who have worked here forever and says, ‘We don’t need you anymore.’” Heh.
"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
Some photographs from the 'Save Our Devs' rallies in Rockville, Montreal, Dallas, Austin, and Redmond—held yesterday in protest of the latest mass layoffs at Xbox. I'm told by a union organiser that over 150 employees turned out in Rockville alone.
Game workers rally against Microsoft layoffs: 'Corporate greed is destroying our games and our livelihoods’ aftermath.site/zenimax-save-o...
The bosses are stealing our game industry, and we aim to take it back! We’re calling game workers, allies, and fans alike to join emergency rallies on WEDNESDAY, JULY 15th! Check this thread for times and locations as they’re established: 🧵
GDQ events always make me feel better about games, people, and the world, but this week especially
Aftermath@aftermath.site · 4w agoIt's the perfect time to watch GDQ aftermath.site/sgdq-2026-spee...
"These are delusional, careless, and tedious people who will never suffer consequences like these, attempting to massage a bad message so they can get patted on the back for it" aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox...
You Don't Have To Hand It To Microsoft For A Well-Planned Bloodbath
People are being laid off in a horrendous job market. You do not have to praise the muddled prose of the rich and insulated.
aftermath.site
This week, Microsoft GUTTED Bethesda, Zenimax, iD, & more. The C-suites treat the workers who make the games we love as disposable and don’t care they’re destroying the future of the industry! Let them know it has to STOP here: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide...
Community
feedbackportal.microsoft.com
OneBGS - Bethesda Game Studios Union@bethesdaunion.bsky.social · 4w agoOne way you can show Microsoft your concern is here through the XBOX Player Voice feedback platform: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide...
When the social contract of worker and boss is repeatedly violated, when your livelihood is destroyed, when an unstable industry is "just the reality" of being a game worker, where is the line that makes you realize that the pot you've been sitting in was slowly boiling for decades?
We can't wait for the laws to catch up to our morals. We can't rely on executives to suddenly grow morals either. Every single freedom we have as workers has been fought for by coordinated, organized resistance.
Game companies are always very content to watch players and their own devs fight it out online, and they have been for over a decade. Because if we're fighting each other, we can't realize who's really in control and destroying our artform: the bosses!
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?