Greedfall 2 developers have finally rocked the boat

Greedfall II developers go on strike on the eve of the launch of early access to the game and achieved a salary increase.

Employees of Nacon's Spiders studio have written an open letter to management detailing the problems they've accumulated. The letter ends with a call for a strike because management has consistently refused to take the issues seriously. 43 of the 95 employees have signed the letter and made it public via the French union Stjv in the hope that this will finally push management to act in the interests of employees and the company.

The studio team writes about low wages, about ignoring safety precautions at work, about the company's vague prospects, about the lack of clear plans for development and career growth of employees, about staff turnover. The management ignores the team's requests, disdains employees and their representatives. All this has a strong impact on the physical, emotional and moral state of the team.

The studio's management agreed to raise the minimum wage by 11% from April 1 this year, i.e. retroactively. Thus, the average salary in the studio increased by 3%. The management will also review the remote work regulations and conduct an audit of working conditions.

At the same time management was outraged by the accusationspublished by the Sjtv union. The management considers them false, defamatory, aimed at tarnishing the studio's reputation before the early release of GreedFall II, and, of course, “in no way reflecting the reality of the daily working life of the company's employees.” The studio's management assured that they are “always committed to open, constructive dialogue,” and “Spiders employees are the heart of the studio, and we are determined to maintain an inclusive and inspiring work environment in which every talent can flourish and of which we can all be proud.”

However, in the letter, the employees mention that attempts to negotiate with the studio's management began back in November 2023. In early 2024, the team published an open letter to the management on the company's internal resources. At the same time, on January 19, they held a strike related to negotiations on remote work. After that, the management ignored any initiatives of the labor movement, and the situation in the company continued to deteriorate. All this led to the September open letter and a new strike.

The situation in game development continues to remain tense. We have previously written about layoffs in the industry And union activity at several other studios owned by the Microsoft giant.

More and more of our colleagues are showing examples of collective struggle for their labor rights, for the cause they are engaged in. We have something to learn from them. Unite!