Podcast / Tech Won’t Save Us / Sep 5, 2024

Unionizing the Video Game Industry

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen discuss the emergent labor movement within video game developers, and their own contributions to it.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Unionizing the Video Game Industry w/ Taylor Welling & Kathryn Friesen | Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen to discuss how they formed wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry and their thoughts on broader challenges like layoffs and corporate consolidation.

Taylor Welling is a producer and union member at OneBGS and Kathryn Friesen is quest designer and member of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild.

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A sign held up at a union strike picket

SAG-AFTRA union video game performers strike outside Warner Bros. Games, part of the Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, in Burbank, California, on August 1, 2024.

(Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images)

On this episode of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast, we’re joined by Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen to discuss how they formed wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry and their thoughts on broader challenges like layoffs and corporate consolidation.

Taylor Welling is a producer and union member at OneBGS and Kathryn Friesen is quest designer and member of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Why Communities Want to Stop Flock Cameras w/ Jason Koebler / Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

No one is comfortable with police surveillance in the US, which is why there’s a bipartisan backlash to Flock cameras. Jason Koebler joins Paris Marx to discuss the rise of Flock, how their cameras are being pitched by right-wing politicians and police agencies, and how they’re being used to stalk residents from coast to coast.

Jason Koebler is a co-founder of 404 Media and co-host of the 404 Media Podcast.

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Paris Marx

Paris Marx is the author of Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires. He hosts the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast and writes the Disconnect newsletter.

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