A vigil for those trampled in the name of profits.
At a Glance
- Organizers from United Videogame Workers staged a mock "funeral" for the game industry at the 2025 Game Awards.
- The group assembled to protest record-high layoffs driven by cost-cutting and poor decision-making.
- They were also there to connect with developers and players and share their organizing plans for 2026.
Last week United Videogame Workers (UVW-CWA) made quite the splash with a showy protest at the 2025 Game Awards in downtown Los Angeles. Armed with signs, fake tombstones, and leaflets, they briefly turned the celebration into a funeral for the video game industry. The Grim Reaper made an appearance. A digital billboard on the back of a cube truck drove up and down Figueroa St. And even an Among Us crew member stopped by to grieve all those lost.
Don't worry, this wasn't a case of critical misdiagnosis. Speaking to Game Developer as the sun went down and the ceremony was about to begin, the protest organizers explained they put on the show to spotlight the thousands of workers laid off by studios large and small in 2025, and to cast a spotlight on the CEOs and executives who ordered the cuts, many of whom were at the show. (I think I saw Matt Booty sprint by while I conducted my interview).
The gathering was an unconventional twist on the many protests staged outside the awards over the last few years. With no ongoing strike or recent major news event to peg the protest to, the group brainstormed a creative way to get their message across—and their process and motivation shone a light on where game industry unionization may be headed in 2026 and beyond.
A dirge for executives and a party for players
The UVW protestors set out that evening to creatively catch the eye of two groups: attending executives and senior developers, along with players footing hundreds of dollars to attend the awards in-person. "It's important to remember that we are the reason why they have a show," said UVW secretary Kaitlin "KB" Bonfiglio. They sported "wanted" posters with the faces of Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, EA CEO Andrew Wilson, and Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, along with their salaries presented against what the average game developer makes.
Planning for the spectacle began a few months ago and emerged out of a voting process by UVW members—everything from the budget to the strategy came about through worker consensus. Despite the dour theming, UVW treasurer Sherveen Uduwana said the goal was not only to "acknowledge the harm" but also to "build excitement" for what can be done through unionizing.
Silly protests with costumed characters have been quite mainstream in 2025, with commentators like Sarah Jeong observing that they helped turn protests like the No Kings Rallies into joyful affairs that felt more like Disneyland than hellish warzones.
Most major industry figures had easier ways in and out of the Peacock theater (LA Live security only let them approach the small ice rink near the theater's edge after attempting to keep them off the property), so it's unlikely the three men would have seen their own faces. But, in a bit of luck, the increased number of non-professionals attending the show worked out in UVW's favor. As the line to enter the venue snaked around the corner, many got to speak with union organizers face-to-face.
"This ties into what players and the gaming audience might be interested in," commented Uduwana. "A lot of that overlaps with what they care about [like] rushed and buggy launches, games that are suddenly canceled without warning, launches that make it clear these companies are just trying to take your money and don't care about the quality of the product."
Those negative events are, according to the group, driven by executives pursuing profits at the expense of workers. "We want to be able to do our jobs at a high level of capability. We want the bosses to get out of the way and let us do those jobs. Allowing us to get our organizing wins is going to make higher quality, more exciting, and more ambitious games possible."
A bill of rights, firing protections, and agency over the way games are made
Going into 2026, Uduwana said the organization is preparing a "bill of rights" for game workers that workers can use to identify immediate terms to raise in unionization drives. "That is basically us talking to workers this whole year, understanding what the high-priority asks are going to be, and putting together…essentially an organizing floor that we can use for future campaigns."
Workers looking for additional demands from their employers can build off of these terms for what their studio specifically needs. For instance, if developers wanted some ability to participate in high-level decisions about a game's direction or production process, they could add that to their individual negotiation terms.
But one key line item in the bill of rights developers will want to be aware of is expanded "Just Cause" rights in worker contracts. Just Cause terms are meant to protect against a wide range of unfair firings, but the union representatives discussed how developers need special terms for disciplinary action over what's posted on social media.
In 2025 several game industry workers were fired for posts made in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk, sometimes following backlash from right-wing agitators on X. Strongly-worded terms about what action employers may take for what employees post on their personal social media accounts can shield workers from harassment campaigns.
"That has been one of the concerns we've had since the founding of UVW," said UVW vice president "Audrey" (who requested to go by their first name) in regards to online harassment of developers. "That was one of the topics brought up in our founding documents."
Uduwana invited workers who want a say in the bill of rights to reach out to the union, saying the organization's success is representative of how workers in the industry come together to make games. "United Videogame Workers is a resource for [developers]—especially younger game developers—coming into the industry to see we are capable of solving complex problems with large groups of workers coming together and democratically solving things."