Union efforts were a major source of discussion in 2025. In early December, multiple game unions formed a cross-border alliance to fight back against layoffs, mismanagement, and AI misuse. It seems the ripple effects of these efforts are starting to reach North America, as 61 Canadian Ubisoft workers have joined the Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada. CTV reports that this union is the first of its kind for Ubisoft in North America.
Jon Huffman, lead programmer at Ubisoft Halifax (Canada), stated the following:
“73.8 per cent were in favour of unionizing. It’s a really strong turnout. Everyone who was eligible to vote, voted. It’s a clear response from the membership.”
Will These Union Efforts Shake Up The Industry?
It’s clear that without proper pushback or significant efforts, the industry is unlikely to change its ways. Stakeholders and executives will always prioritize profits to keep the ship afloat, even at the cost of layoffs. Xbox particularly had a bad year in terms of PR, with unrealistic margin demands leading to studio closures.
The Halifax staff at Ubisoft has been forming plans for this union since June 2025. That’s when the initial voting also took place. However, the vote count was not counted at the time, due to the bargaining unit having an unclear structure and other challenges at Ubisoft. Vague, I know, but that’s all we know so far in terms of inside baseball.
Crucially, Huffman also expressed thanks for the support from unions across Europe. This ties directly into the ripple effect of unionization in Europe that I was talking about earlier. The efforts were overwhelming for some Ubisoft employees, as Huffman stated many colleagues reached out to him from across the globe to express their surprise.
The industry, media, and even fans often like to pit union efforts against publishers. People often think that these employees are “ungrateful” and have unreasonable expectations. That’s certainly not the case. Union efforts are important so that publishers truly start to respect the people who make their games. Everyone deserves to be respected, but that’s often not the case in the games industry. When a project is terminated, people are left jobless. Huffman’s final statement, which I want to highlight here, is one of optimism:
“We love where we work, we love who we work with. We’re in this for the long haul.”
