Swedish studio, Avalanche, known for the development of Just Cause, has now become the latest game industry to form a union with more than 100 staff entering an agreement with local labour unions. The deal means Avalanche has now fostered a collective bargaining agreement with Unionen and Engineers of Sweden to cover all employees based in the country, which constitutes roughly a fifth of Avalanche’s total workforce of around 500. The agreement will commence from the second quarter of 2025, aiming to standardize structures around key areas including salaries, benefits, employee influence, and career support.
In the coming months, the focus will be on detailing and establishing these provisions without interrupting the development of the studio’s upcoming projects, particularly their co-op smuggling game, Contraband. Stefanía Halldórsdóttir, CEO of Avalanche, said, “Over the past years, we’ve made significant strides to make Avalanche one of the best workplaces in the games industry. Our exclusive culture, work-life balance, profit sharing, and parental leave policy are some of the factors that distinguish us and enable us to concentrate on creating excellent games. We hope that this collective bargaining agreement marks another step in this direction”.
Following successful unionization efforts amid a troubled year in the industry marked by extensive layoffs and studio shutdowns, Avalanche joins the ranks of Sega of America, Zenimax QA workers, and Blizzard staff, who have unionized over the past year. The company extends its best wishes and congratulations to them.
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