Vodeo Games and its history-making union close up shop

Beast BreakerVodeo games will cease business after Steam’s release of the original 2021 game.

“The story is unfortunately a familiar one for small studios,” a Vodeo Games representative wrote on Twitter. “Despite a year of avid efforts, we’ve been unable to secure funding for our next project from publishers and investors. As such, we’ve run out of funds and aren’t able to keep the team together — and there simply is no Vodeo without our incredible team.”

Vodeo Games were founded by in 2019. Threes! Asher Vollmer is the founder of this game. Beast BreakerThis will be in 2021. The company’s stated mission was to release one “cozy-crunchy” game per year — games you can “curl up with and completely lose yourself in,” with “complex, interlocking systems that can take years to fully master,” according to its website. Studio was currently working on the unannounced second game.

Workers at the studio partnered with Communication Workers of America’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees and were officially recognized by Vodeo management in 2021; Vodeo Workers United is the first officially recognized video game studio union in North America. Vodeo Workers United was an early adopter of unions such as the groups at Activision Blizzard and Keywords Studios. It also helped pave the road for other organizing initiatives. Vodeo workers united stated its members would still be able to access information they gained from bargaining, in spite of Vodeo’s dissolution.

Vodeo Games was in bargaining with the union but hadn’t yet reached an agreement. When the studio was unable to renew funding, negotiations were stopped. Vodeo Workers United said on Twitter.

“Despite the sad news, we learned a lot & will continue fighting for workers’ representation moving forward by helping others & sharing our knowledge,” Vodeo Workers United wrote. “We want to thank the folks at @CODE_CWA for helping us throughout this adventure. We highly encourage you to reach out to them.”

Vodeo Workers United continued: “And to our fellow game workers out there with public campaigns, in the middle of bargaining their first contract, or just starting to discuss unionization with their co-workers: we see you, and we support you.”

The company hasn’t said when Beast BreakerThe game will be available via Steam but is already available for purchase on Nintendo Switch or Windows PC through the Epic Games Store.