Hardspace Shipbreaker support developer Anemone Hug unionizes

Canadian developers at Hardspace ShipbreakerAnemone Hug Interactive, a support studio, voted to unite. the studio announced Wednesday.

The Canadian Animation Guild has joined The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees – Local 938. IATSE largely services entertainment workers internationally, while the British Columbian animation unit focuses on local animation workers — and now game developers.

“For years, game workers in Canada have been working without the benefits and protections of a union collective agreement and without the strength of union representation,” IATSE International vice president and Canadian affairs director John Lewis said in a statement. “Today, a clear message has been sent to game workers in every province — forming a union is not only possible; it has been done.”

Polygon reached out IATSE, Anemone Hug to get more information. They also provided a complete staff count.

Anemone Hug, founded in Vancouver in 2015, supports the development of games for small studios and big ones, as well as work on them. Hardspace Shipbreaker, Crossfire LegionPlease see the following: Secret Ponchos. It also said that the studio was working on its original game. This is expected to be out in 2024 according to Anemone Hug.

Hardspace ShipbreakerBlackbird Interactive developed and Focus Entertainment published a game called. The highly acclaimed title, released in early access 2022 and primarily focuses on labor organizing and issues in space, and was created by Blackbird Interactive. As part of Xbox Game Pass, this game launched on Xbox.

Workers at Anemone Hug joins Keywords Studios’ Edmonton, Canada location in pushing forward unionization efforts in the country. Earlier this year, 16 QA workers at the BioWare contractor voted “yes” to unionization after the studio reportedly implemented a return-to-office order that workers didn’t agree with. Keywords Studios QA workers joined United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union (Local No. 401.

Unions have gained momentum in North America over the past few years — union elections are up, even when union membership is down overall, at least in the United States. While the news headlines are focused on the Amazon warehouse workers and Starbucks employees, the trend has spread to the video gaming industry. No studio had ever merged in North America before 2020; there is now a multitude of unions at both large and small studios.