Workers at Entertainment Site IGN Vote to Unionize
A majority of editorial and creative employees at IGN, an entertainment website that specializes in video game coverage, have voted to unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA. The newly formed IGN Creators Guild announced the vote on Tuesday, adding that the group will consist of over 80 employees with 87% of eligible members signing union authorization cards.
The group said in a statement it expects that Ziff Davis, the company that owns IGN, will voluntarily recognize the guild.
“Of our many goals, we first and foremost want to see IGN grow and thrive as digital media continues to become more and more tumultuous,” the IGN Creators Guild said in a statement. “We have been an institution for over 25 years, and the creators of IGN want to see it continue for 25 more and beyond. But to do so, we need support.”
The group is seeking “fair and competitor pay for all” as well as “affordable health insurance,” increased diversity and protection against layoffs. The group also seeks protection against generative AI and support for “reclaiming necessary rest time when we work long, unavoidable extra hours covering major events and releases.”
“We must avoid future mismanaged pivots and reorgs, as well as address the ethical editorial concerns that have grown with the acquisition of sponsorship-focused subsidiaries,” the mission statement reads.
The move comes during a turbulent time for media as a wave of layoffs have hit a bevy of outlets ranging from Condé Nast publications to the Los Angeles Times to the shuttering of news site The Messenger. The cuts have been met with walkouts from the LA Times union and Washington Post union and staffers at NY Daily News and Condé Nast.
IGN was created in 1996 during the video game boom and continued to increase its readership as the world moved online. The company was acquired by News Corp. in 2005, then sold to Ziff Davis in 2013.
Other Ziff Davis-owned outlets PC Magazine, Mashable, Geek.com and AskMen are unionized as the Ziff Davis Creators Guild.
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