Jeff Strain skrev nylihgen ett brev till sina anställda på spelföretag Undead labs. I brevet uppmanade han dem att gå ihop i ett fackförbund för spelutvecklare. Som kanske redan de flesta förstått är detta i kölvattnet av vad som händer borta hos Blizzard. Jeff Strain jobbade nämligen som anställd för Blizzard innan han senare lämnade företaget för att starta upp ArenaNet som senare gjorde sig kända med spelserien Guild Wars. Nu jobbar han på Undead Labs som också är ett spelföretag han själv varit med och grundat.

Brevet med titeln ”It's Time” delades därefter också för offentliga ögon via IGN.

It's Time

“Toxic” is a word so frequently used today that in some ways it has lost the true power and force of the  word. We increasingly treat the word flippantly, sometimes even playfully. There are some situations,  people, and institutions that simply can’t be brushed off with “toxic” and instead must be described more  accurately: abusive, cruel, abhorrent, unacceptable, illegal.
  
The Activision Blizzard disclosures this week have left me disgusted and repulsed — but not at all  surprised. I joined a very early stage Blizzard as a game programmer in 1996, when there were several  dozen employees. I knew the three founders and senior leadership well, and hosted frequent dinners with  them in my home. Over the next four years, I worked on the earliest versions of most of Blizzard’s iconic  titles including StarCraft and Diablo, and I was briefly the team lead and lead programmer of World of  Warcraft.
  
In 1998, after a cataclysmic meeting with one of the founders over our objections to dismembered and  impaled female body parts in the beta version of Diablo, my wife and I began planning to leave Blizzard.  Ultimately, I joined with a few like-minded colleagues and moved a thousand miles away from the  Blizzard sphere of influence to start an independent studio.
 
My time at Blizzard left an indelible mark on my life and career that continues to this day. Most  importantly, it showed me how abusive cultures can propagate and self-amplify over time; how “hardcore  gamers only” is a smokescreen for “bro culture”; how fostering a sense of exceptionalism inhibits people  from speaking up because they should just deal with it if they love the company and its games; and how  passive leadership that turns a blind eye can ultimately be the most abusive thing of all.
 
I have attempted to create a healthier, more decent, more supportive environment in each of the studios I  have started since leaving Blizzard. None of them were perfect, but I’ve tried to learn and improve each  time. I’ve become increasingly careful in my hiring and selective in my choice of financial and publishing  partners to give these healthier environments the greatest chance to flourish. At the end of the day, though,  my studios employ at most a few hundred people. As we have seen through the disclosures this week,  independent studios, even with the best intentions, cannot set the standards for the industry. The tone and  tenor of the entire industry is set by the giants, the places with the largest number of entry-level jobs, and  the places with the largest, most profitable titles.
 
During my 25 years working alongside talented developers, I’ve heard hundreds of profoundly disturbing  stories about their industry experiences. I’ve also seen this cycle repeat itself numerous times, across  multiple companies throughout our industry. There has certainly been some positive change, and I do  believe many developers and publishers — even large ones — are working in good faith to improve. But  those efforts, while commendable, can’t address the chronic issues in our industry systemically. In order  to do that, game industry employees need advocacy and representation. 
We need unionization.
 
Unions were started in this country to protect workers from abusive, cruel, abhorrent, unacceptable and  illegal treatment from companies. That’s their entire purpose. If this week does not show us that our  industry colleagues — even the most entry-level QA tester — need true support and baseline protection, I  can’t imagine how much worse it will have to get.
 
I’m an entrepreneur, and a veteran of three successful independent studio start ups. I’m highly familiar  with the financial, legal, contractual, and organizational aspects of game development. I also know that I  have nothing to fear from unionization, nor does any company that pays employees fairly and equitably,  provides quality health insurance, models respect and civility for female, POC, LGBTQ+ employees, and  supports a healthy, whole life. It seems simple, but we clearly need help with it. The giants of this industry have shown us this week that we cannot trust them to moderate and manage the wealth and  power that players and fans have given them.
 
I welcome my employees to unionize, and I’m giving my full endorsement and support to an industry wide adoption of unions. I also encourage the leadership of game-industry companies, large and small,  corporate and independent, to join me in endorsing and advocating for unionization as a concrete,  actionable step toward improving our industry. As a studio owner, I’ll roll up my sleeves and work with  union organizers in a spirit of collaboration. I greatly look forward to the day when the joy and love for  what we create for our players is reflected in our workplaces for all employees.
 
Jeff Strain 
New Orleans