The Communication Workers of America (CWA) labor union has fired back at Sony for shutting down Concord developer Firewalk Studios and mobile studio Neon Koi.
“Collective bargaining not only allows workers a seat at the table to bargain for fair compensation, but also a voice on the job to have a say over how workers will be impacted by job cuts,” said the labor union in a statement reported by Game Developer.
The CWA has claimed this is a “warning sign” of Sony “furthering their monopoly position” in the industry.
“Sony’s decision to dissolve studios outside their walled-garden of PlayStation-exclusive content, rather than making games that have to compete in the highly diverse and competitive mobile game market, should be a cautionary warning sign of Sony’s interests in furthering their monopoly position in the video game industry,” said the CWA.
“CWA plans to raise the anti-competitive impacts of Sony’s increasing monopoly and monopsony power with the appropriate antitrust regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders.”
Sony announced it would be closing the two studios earlier this week. Neon Koi’s mobile action game will not be moving forward and Concord, which was delisted and taken offline on September 6, will not be returning.
Around 210 employees will be laid off between Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/462954/cwa-union-criticizes-sony-for-closing-firewalk-studios-and-neon-koi/
