First Ontario game dev labour union formed at Joydrop, majority of staff who voted reportedly fired

Nice console games September 14, 2024 blog, Joydrop, Layoffs, Mikutech, Union, unionisation

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The
first
labour
union
of
game
developers
in
Ontario
was
formed
by
staff
at
Joydrop,
only
for
the
majority
of
employees
that
voted
to
reportedly
be
fired
two
working
days
after
the
victory.

Joydrop
is
the
gaming
brand
of
London-based
service
agency
Mikutech,
founded
in
2013
by
Mark
Mikulec.
It
specialises
in
work-for-hire
services,
including
porting
and
co-development,
and
has
worked
with
the
likes
of
Gearbox,
Skybound
and
Armor
Games
Studios.

Former
employee
Stephan
Reilly
tells

GamesIndustry.biz
that
16
of
17
members
voted
in
favour
of
unionsation
at
Joydrop.
The
voting
period
concluded
on
December
19,
2023.
According
to
Reilly,
Mikulec
then
proceeded
to
terminate
14
of
those
who
voted.

Reilly
claims
the
devs
were
laid
off
during
a
Zoom
call
on
January
8,
2024,
which
was
the
day
developers
were
to
resume
work
following
the
holidays.
The
team
were
reportedly
notified
the
night
before,
with
the
meeting
being
described
as
a
“New
Year
meeting”
and
that
it
would
be
held
online
as
the
company
was
“updating
and
resetting
[its]
new
security
policies.”

Once
the
call
began,
Reilly
said
staff
were
informed
their
employment
was
being
terminated
with
management
citing
“poor
sales”
as
the
reason.

Reilly
claims
that
following
his
termination,
he
was
contacted
by
a
developer
who
said
Mikulec
allegedly
asked
about
“being
hired
for
[his]
former
position.”
Reilly
adds
it
was
“unclear
whether
this
was
at
Joydrop
or
a
new
company.”

GamesIndustry.biz
has
reached
out
to
Mikutech
for
further
clarification
and
comment.

Mikutech
is
now
facing
three
unfair
labour
practice
charges
in
front
of
the
Ontario
Labour
Board.
The
United
Food
and
Commercial
Workers
of
Canada
is
representing
the
workers.

If
the
UFCW
and
the
three
remaining
unionised
employees
reach
a
collective
bargaining
agreement
with
Joydrop,
it
would
be
the
first
successful
collective
bargaining
agreement
of
a
games
developer
in
Canada.

Prior
to
the
termination,
Joydrop
won
a
Tech
Alliance
grant
for
$40,000
in
November
2023,
and
was
in
the
process
of
receiving
Ontario
Creates
and
Canada
Media
Fund
grants
which
“several”
of
those
terminated
helped
to
compile
last
summer.

Reilly
says
that
Telefilm
Canada
program
coordinator
Aaron
Nguyen
told
the
devs
via
email
that
it
was
“discussing
internally”
about
whether
the
unfair
labour
practice
charges
would
affect
Joydrop’s
ability
to
receive
the
CMF
grants.

“Blowing
up
your
whole
team
doesn’t
make
any
sense
to
me
if
your
goal
is
to
create
games,
and
as
the
pseudo-head
game
designer
at
Joydrop
on
our
internal
IP
it
was
in
an
ideal
situation,”
says
Reilly.

“We
had
millions
of
dollars
in
grant
money
about
to
come
in,
we
had
a
publisher
who
was
very
interested,
we
had
investor
interest,
we
just
won
a
Tech
Alliance
Grant
for
$40,000,
our
team
was
working
really
well
together
and
getting
into
a
groove.

“It
was
the
perfect
situation
for
someone
who
wants
to
make
games.
Which
leads
me
to
believe
that’s
simply
not
what
Mark
wanted,
he
wanted
something
else.”