Sega of America workers voted “yes” to officially form a union. The National Labor Relations Board tallied the group’s mailed ballots Monday, with Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS) winning the vote.
117 votes were counted, 91 votes for the union and 26 votes against. (Multiple votes were appealed and not counted.) The unit will include more than 200 positions at Sega of America’s Irvine, Calif., office, Communications Workers of America said in a press release.
The merger includes several different departments: Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Product Development and Quality Assurance. The Irvine office, which opened in 2022, employs up to 235 people. With this win, AEGIS-CWA becomes the first video game industry union in a large, multi-divisional organization. Boston-based Activision Blizzard studio Proletariat attempted this in early 2023 but ultimately withdrew its union petition. Next, the NLRB must certify the union before it can begin negotiations.
“We are thrilled to celebrate our union election victory as members of AEGIS-CWA,” Sega of America translator Ángel Gómez said in a press release. “From the beginning of this campaign, it has been clear that we all care deeply about our work at SEGA. Now, through our union, we can protect the parts of our jobs we love and strengthen the benefits, pay and job stability available to all workers. Together we can build an even better SEGA. We hope that today’s win will be an inspiration to other workers across the gaming industry. Together we can raise the standards for all workers across the industry.”
The video game industry’s union push has largely been led by QA workers and indie studios, with indie conglomerate Tender Claws Human Union leading the way with its interdepartmental union.
Sega itself is headquartered in Japan but has several local offices around the world. It is best known for its arcade and video games in franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, and Persona. Sega Sammy, the holding company of Sega and Sammy Corporation, granted its Japan-based employees a 30% pay rise in February, but it was not extended outside of Japan. Sega of America union members are seeking higher base wages, increases to match inflation, improved benefits and increased staffing levels to end overwork at the company.
With this victory, the video game industry’s union efforts have reached another milestone; The effort officially began in 2021 when defunct indie studio Vodeo Games announced its merger. In the years that followed, unions sprung up across the industry, in studios large and small. The largest union to date is the ZeniMax Media QA union, which voted yes in January. Activision Blizzard employees, whose company remains the subject of a takeover bid by Microsoft, have so far formed two company unions.
Today’s workers’ victory at Sega of America is part of a larger movement of games workers opposing industry norms that encourage brutal overwork, discrimination and unequal pay. Just last week, a former employee of Pokemon Go Developer Niantic sued the company over an alleged culture of gender discrimination and sexism that devalued women. With the seat at the negotiating table provided by a union, workers want a say in operations and hold management accountable for issues like those alleged at Sega and elsewhere.
