Dude, drop the crack. The only reason the market isn't full of bug-ridden 3 hour $75 games is because we don't have unions, and HOPEFULLY never will.
The game industry is FULL of buggy POS games, you fool. It would be hard to get any worse. Unionization won't drop quality. Arguably, it would improve quality, because people who work more efficiently generally produce better work. People who are overworked don't.
Should unions come in and the per-hour price of game development triplicates for no good reason, it's the day that the game industry enters a crisis it's never seen since its inception.
Unions would not increase the cost of dev by 3x. That's an idiotic exaggeration.
If you look at the movie industry, a heavily unionized industry, you see that the price of movie production has skyrocketted for two reasons - a) "above the line" costs - i.e. stars and directors demanding ever more outrageous salaries, and b) massive marketing budgets. The actual production of movies (with the exception of CG-based movies) is getting cheaper and more efficient over the years.
In industries that were non-union that became unionized, costs generally STABILIZED or slightly increased, not gone up by 3x. Don't exaggerate to make your point.
Is that why publishers pay $$$ for press events, buy off previews (and reviews, but shhh, that can't be said!), base their decision on whether to make sequels on metacritic score (i.e. press review scores), and that's just the first two examples that came to mind?
OK, let me clarify. They do care about the press - because the press is a marketing vehicle. At E3, the press are wooed, but they play second fiddle to the REAL audience - the retail buyers. What I was trying to skewer was the bullshit notion that unrealistic release dates are the result of executives quoting the wrong dates to the press, and then suddenly feeling beholden to those dates. With regards to keeping their promises to the marketplace - publishers don't give a shit. However, in keeping their promises to shareholders and Wall Street? THAT'S what's calling the shots here.
Look at the delays to the PS3 as an example. SONY doesn't care that they're late. They probably knew a year ago they would be. The press keeps dedicating column inches to the PS3, and that's what's important.
IT'S BECAUSE YOU STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK LIKE THAT, YOU CAN GET ANOTHER JOB!
Oh, it's that simple, is it? Huh. Walk a mile in my shoes before you tell me how easy it is. I've got more than 10 years of experience in the industry. I've tried to get out. Trust me, punk. It's not that simple. If you want to know why, just ask.
In fact, contrary to your rose-colored view of the labor marketplace, it is often very difficult to move from industry to industry - for ANYONE.
Anyone who says that unions are the best thing that could happen to the gaming industry is someone who hates the gaming industry with a rarely seen passion.
See, this is where you let your personal prejudices get in the way of clear thinking. I never said that unions would be the best thing to happen to the industry. In fact, NOWHERE do I say that they would actually be a good thing. I work in the industry - willingly - and if approached to join a union, I don't know if I would join. Like I said, it's complicated.
And I've worked at jobs where I was part of a union and I agree with you to an extent - sometimes union people can be lazy mofos. Hell, my mom was a teacher and the teachers who were "tenured" were some of the laziest bastards in the universe. I'm not saying unions are exempt from corruption, or complacency. Because they aren't. Hell, for a few years I was a Teamster. I know unions pretty well.
Or someone who's totally clueless as to how the free market works.
You're completely clueless about the last 200 years of the history of industry.
Let me ask you this...do you have weekends off? Do you work 40 hours a week? Do you have health insurance? Do you often scratch your thick head and wonder where those things came from? Or do you assume like most arrogant Western fools that they were birthrights? Well, they came from UNIONS. Long ago in the bowels of history, people worked 12 hour days, with no breaks, seven days a week. Hell, in many parts of the world, that's still the case. How did people rise up out of that quagmire? By organizing. Unions brought us the 40 hour work week. Unions brought us the weekend. Unions demanded that employers pay for things like health care, sick leave, overtime.
BTW: if the gaming industry unionizes, then you can be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that companies like EA will start outsurcing like it's going outta fashion.
You're goddamn right they will. Activision will, too, so will SONY, every single one of them. THAT'S the precious, hallowed free market you keep getting on your knees to worship. They'll do what they SHOULD be doing - finding the cheapest way to make their products. And all the unions in the world can't stop them.
FFS, I didn't say unions were the RIGHT thing, or even appropriate for the game industry. All I said was that a) conditions are getting worse, and b) the main reason why is because the workers do not have the collective bargaining power that unions would give them. That's all.
It's a complex issue. It's not as simple as a bunch of workers toiling away while management lords over them. In some cases, the "managers" (Producers, etc.) work ungodly hours, too.
But you can keep beating the anti-union drum just because your Daddy has a few deadbeat workers. If it's so bad that all the rich factory owners have to let deadbeat workers sit on the payroll because of some crappy laws, well - guess what, Mr. Rich Factory Owner? Why don't you and your fat cat friends ORGANIZE. Form a union (oh, wait...they're called "trade groups" when its corporations that unionize, sorry). Lobby your government. Throw some money around. Just quit whining.
People in the ultimate positions of power WHINING about how the world treats them like shit make me sick. People who don't know their history, who don't know the men, women, and children who DIED to give them the life they arrogantly feel entitled to make me sick.