IWGB Game Workers union forms ‘redundancy taskforce’ to defend workers’ rights
The IWGB Game Workers Union has launched a member-led ‘redundancy taskforce’ to support workers affected by ongoing layoffs in the video game industry and defend union members’ rights in the UK. The taskforce is committed to ensuring all redundancies are “legal, justifiable, and fair,” providing training, solidarity, and support to affected workers. Union representatives emphasize that workers can “stand up to bosses who use redundancy to cover for their own mismanagement and greed.”
The initiative comes amid unprecedented mass layoffs across the gaming sector. Xbox recently announced plans to cut 3,200 jobs by the end of its fiscal year, with 1,600 layoffs beginning immediately across major studios including Obsidian, ZeniMax Online Studios, and id Software. Meanwhile, Rockstar Games terminated over 30 UK employees as part of broader industry-wide cost-cutting measures.
The redundancy taskforce addresses growing tensions between major publishers’ cost management strategies and worker protections in an industry experiencing record profits alongside record job losses. The IWGB’s focus on ensuring redundancies meet legal standards and are genuinely justified signals increasingly organized efforts to hold major publishers accountable for their employment decisions, providing legal guidance and collective support to affected workers navigating redundancy processes.