The Last of Us director calls for unionization in the games industry

The Last of Us co-director Bruce Straley advocated for unionization in the games industry after he was snubbed from the credits in The Last of Us’ HBO adaptation. Straley made the comments to the L.A. Times and said unionization might help more creators get the recognition they deserve.

“Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn’t getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it,” Straley said. “Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.”

Straley left Naughty Dog in 2017 after reportedly becoming disillusioned with his job there. The L.A. Times report suggested his relationship with the studio and PlayStation became strained as well.

The issue of who gets credited is an ongoing one, as testers, designers, translators, and editors often find they’ve been left out entirely or alluded to in a general fashion. In an industry where job applications almost always require candidates to have a certain number of projects with their name credited in it, the problem goes beyond just recognizing people’s work.

As for Strahey’s suggestion, 2022 saw the beginnings of a small labor movement in the industry already, with workers forming two unions at Activision Blizzard. The trend continued in 2023 as testers at Microsoft-owned ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, formed Microsoft’s first union.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF