It’s Official: Sega of America Has Unionized

It’s official: Sega of America has unionized. More than 200 workers working out of the company’s offices in Irvine and Burbank voted today to unionize under the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega banner, which is represented by the Communications Workers of America.

The election took place on July 10, with 91 voting “yes” and 26 voting “no.” There were also 19 challenged ballots and three void ballots. It encompassed workers in departments including Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Marketing, Product Development Ops, Sales, Quality Assurance, and others.

Sega of America workers announced the union back in April, with demands including higher base pay, improved benefits, and clear opportunities for career advancement.

The press release claims that the win makes the AEGIS-CWA the largest multi-department union of organized workers in the game industry. It joins the ZeniMax QA workers guild recognized by Microsoft back in January, with workers at Activision Blizzard also seeking to unionize. It will now head to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract with the Japanese publishing giant.

After months of organizing and weeks of enduring a brutal anti-union campaign by SEGA management, my friends at SEGA have done it!!
So excited for everyone at SEGA to get the pay, benefits, and respect they all deserve.
Solidarity forever! ✊ https://t.co/0YSHfTVUrH

— Katrina Leonoudakis💙#UnionizeSEGA (@katrinaltrnsl8r) July 10, 2023

Katrina Leonoudakis, who previously worked for Sega as a localization specialist, was among those celebrating the election on Twitter.

“After months of organizing and weeks of enduring a brutal anti-union campaign by SEGA management, my friends at SEGA have done it!! So excited for everyone at SEGA to get the pay, benefits, and respect they all deserve,” Leonoudakis wrote.

IGN has reached out to Sega for comment.

Sega joins a growing tide of unions in the games industry

The growing wave of unions is seen as an antidote to the low pay, long hours, and poor working conditions that are endemic within the games industry, particulary in departments such as QA testing. Union advocates have had a strong presence at events like the Game Developers Conference for many years now, and support for unionization has been rising among games workers.

Last year, Polygon released an in-depth, free pamphlet on video game unionization titled “Rise of the Video Game Union.” It was positioned as an explanation of the unionization process as well as a history of video game unions at large, which includes unsuccessful attempts to unionize by Atari workers in 1984 and a not-quite-subsidiary of Ubisoft in 2008.

Unions continue to be a hot topic within the games industry, with Sega the latest to join the movement.

“Working for Sega is a passion for many of us and it’s been so exciting to see that through organizing, we can make this work a sustainable long-term career,” said Mohammad Saman, Sega QA lead and AEGIS member said when the union was first announced.

“By creating our union, AEGIS-CWA, we’ll have a say in the decisions that shape our working conditions and ensure the job security and working conditions we deserve. We’re excited to protect what already makes SEGA great, and help build an even stronger company, together.”

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.