Animangashy
1st video game union in U.S. featuring workers from several departments
On Monday, workers across multiple departments, including quality assurance, localization, live service, marketing, and product development at the Irvine, California office of Sega of America filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The majority of the office’s staff, comprising of 144 employees, have formed the first video game union in the United States and named it the Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA (AEGIS).
AEGIS has partnered with Communications Workers of America (CWA) and its Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE).
The Irvine office of Sega of America opened in 2022 and is known for its popular game franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue, and Virtua Fighter.
In 2016, Sega of America finalized the acquisition of Atlus USA and now has publishing rights to all of Atlus USA’s games in North America. Despite this, the two companies operate independently.
Sega is planning to acquire the Finland-based Rovio Entertainment Oyj mobile game company (Angry Birds) through its subsidiary Sega Europe Limited and Sega Sammy Holdings. Rovio is currently valued at EUR706 million (about US$776 million) and the acquisition is a friendly takeover. Rovio’s board of directors has agreed to and expressed support for the offer. The tender offer will commence on or about May 8.
Update: Updated title.
Sources: AEGIS’s Twitter account, The Verge (Ash Parrish)
