Things have not been going very smoothly atDon’t Nod. The French videogame company that brought you the first two entries in theLife Is Strangeseries is planning to vacate 69 positions in the studio.
To protest the restructuring announced last month,the Don’t Nod staff has announced a strike this Friday. The team also issued an open letter about the working conditions inthe studio.
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According to the communiqué issued through STJV (France’s Union for Video Game Workers), workers will join the picket line outside the Don’t Nod offices in Paris starting at 14:00 local time on Friday.
Their list of demands includes that Don’t Nod walk back on the planned restructuring and layoffs, and that employees have a bigger say in the company’s direction.
STJV specifies that Oskar Guilbert, company CEO, must be present to negotiate terms.
The Don’t Nod Staff Open Letter
The letter issued by the Don’t Nod staff outlines systemic problems inthe companythat have culminated in a loss of faith in its leadership.
Pera translated version, workers feel “these failures are due to a succession of negligent acts and bad decisions from leadership”.
We have warned leadership about these failures for years, but are not being listened to. Ultimately, we’re the ones paying the price of these absurd decisions today, with the redundancy plan.
-Don’t Nod Staff, translated
Workers depicted the company’s current business strategy as based ondelusions of grandeur and chronic short-termism.
The attrition from these leadership problems has led many team members, veterans and novices alike, to walk out in search of better work conditions.
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Funding for new games has completely dried up.
As a result,those who stayed have had to contend with a higher workloadas they fill multiple roles at once while trying to meet unrealistic deadlines.
In the closing statement, workers say they “want to save the company, but not at the price of unjustified redundancies or a deteriorated working environment.”
Wave After Wave of Layoffs
Leadership moves like the planned Don’t Nod layoffs have become anunfortunately common sightin recent years, but the staff and STJV response has been one of the strongest cases of pushback recorded.
As the gaming industry grapples withwaves of layoffsand knock-on effects from thetech crisisthat hasravaged the sectorover the last years, it may become increasingly common to see employees taking a stand against company leaders.
Time will tell whether this move will have an effect or not. In the meantime, it does feel like life is strange whenthe gaming industry is publishing record profits while working conditions keep getting worse.
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