Is Dataspelsbranschen anti-union? Thoughts on the Swedish Game Developer Index

Every year, the Swedish games industry trade organization Dataspelsbranschen—essentially our equivalent to the ESA—releases a report called the "Game Developer Index". The report is meant to summarize the state of the Swedish games industry; notable events, changes in Important Numbers™, etc.
I like reading the Game Developer Index. Partially because it's good to keep up to date with what's going on in the industry I work in, but also because it's a window into what the public-facing "representatives" of the industry choose to write about.

And, importantly, what they choose not to.

Conspicuous by their absence

In August of 2020, the workers at Paradox Interactive—together with representatives from labor unions Unionen and Engineers of Sweden—successfully negotiated the signing of a collective bargaining agreement with the studio's leadership. It got some media buzz, both internationally (e.g. at GamesIndustry.biz) and domestically (notably, it was covered by Dagens Industri, one of Sweden's top business news outlets); within the Swedish game studios, everyone was talking about it.
After all, this was Paradox—at the time the 6th biggest games company in Sweden by revenue (7th largest by number of employees)—signing a collective bargaining agreement in a year when the international game development labor movement was building up some serious steam. Why wouldn't everyone be talking about it?

Everyone except Dataspelsbranschen, apparently.

In 2020's Game Developer Index, there was no mention of this important occasion in Paradox's history. Paradox is mentioned—the report boasts that 2019 was the best fiscal year in the studio's history—but not a single word about the fact that they'd unionized. Nor is it mentioned in the report from 2021, just in case you might think they didn't have time to include it. In fact, there isn't a single mention of the words "union" or "collective bargaining agreement" anywhere in those reports. Or the report from 2022, or the report from 2023... or the report from 2024, another year when it would have been pretty relevant.

In April of 2024, I sat across the table from the company representatives of Avalanche Studios as we concluded our own negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. Again, this didn't happen quietly; I was even interviewed by IGN as part of a story about it. And again, the attention was justified; Avalanche was the 8th biggest Swedish game studio by revenue in 2024, and the 5th biggest by number of employees (although I'm told they've let go of quite a few people since then).

But in the 2024 Game Developer Index, there was no mention of Avalanche unionizing. Not a single instance of the word "union" or "collective bargaining agreement". They definitely knew it happened; not just because of the media buzz, but because I publicly told one of the writers of the report about it on LinkedIn. What gives?

This apparent disinterest in the Swedish games industry's growing labor movement disappoints me for multiple reasons. For one, I don't think any organization claiming to represent the games industry can do so honestly without representing the people who work in that industry. But it also disappoints me because unions present a solution to many of the problems the industry is currently facing; by ignoring this, Dataspelsbranschen is failing the companies it represents by leaving solutions off the table.

How the unions could help

Each Game Developer Index contains a section outlining the current challenges facing the Swedish games industry. These are—in their own words—"challenges that the industry needs to address in order for growth to continue".
Here are some of those challenges from the 2024 report and how closer collaboration with labor unions would help solve them:

Financing Capital

The report states that as investment into the industry has decreased, there is a greater need for government support of the games industry in the form of "financing structures, tax breaks, and other forms of support".
Swedish labor unions are highly influential political organizations, which puts them in a prime position to push for the establishment of this kind of support.
On top of that, Unionen has proposed lobbying the government to use some of the vast unallocated capital in its state-run venture capital funds to invest in Swedish video-game startups. We're talking potential investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars, enough to easily fund several years of production for a small army of indie startups looking to release their first game.

Long Term Skills Supply

Much like in the rest of the world, the Swedish games industry suffers from brain drain; every year, lots of developers leave the industry for greener pastures in tech or other industries, often due to stress or more attractive benefits or compensation packages.

The industry has compensated for this by recruiting from abroad—the report estimates that at least a third of game developers in Sweden migrated to work here—and Dataspelsbranschen highlights the difficulty for migrants to find accommodation (I can tell you from first-hand experience that the Stockholm real estate market is brutal) and to obtain work permits in the report.
Again, these kinds of political challenges are a perfect opportunity to work together with unions, as they are just as concerned with their immigrant members' ability to thrive in Sweden as the companies are.

The report also highlights that the work to improve diversity within the industry has led to more women being employed at Swedish game studios, and wants to see that work improved. I'd add that continued work with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion would not only make the industry more appealing to women, but also to people of color and the LGBTQ+.
By signing collective bargaining agreements, game studios give greater influence to their employees, which opens up for more diverse voices to make themselves heard. In turn, the potential for meaningful change that makes the industry more appealing to minorities is amplified.

Signing a collective bargaining agreement would also result in a reduction in toxic work conditions like crunch, which would reduce the risk of senior talent leaving as shifting life circumstances make them prioritize family or a reduction of stress over "passion".

Artificial Intelligence

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably familiar with the ongoing debate about the use of generative AI in game development. Developers have a long list of valid concerns; about the risk of companies laying off developers in favor of using GenAI, the legal and ethical difficulties of using models trained on stolen work, the environmental impact of using these computationally expensive tools, and more.

The Game Developer Index brushes off the concern about layoffs—claiming the employment numbers show that the fear is unfounded, even as they acknowledge that dwindling investment has led to the closure of multiple Swedish studios—and in the "Threats and Challenges" section about AI it focuses its attention entirely on the issue of copyright. This is possibly the most tone-deaf section in the entire report, as developers all over the world are loudly complaining about the industry's corporate leadership ignoring their concerns and bullishly charging ahead with the adoption of generative AI.

If the industry wants to avoid enraging its workers, it's going to need to involve them in the decisions about how we use generative AI. The SAG-AFTRA strike of last year will likely not be the last time that workers involved in game development go on strike, but that can be prevented by company leadership electing to negotiate with the unions in good faith.

Work Environment

The industry's trouble with providing a good work environment to its workers is a well-documented problem that's been going on for decades. Swedish game developers, with the strong protections afforded to them by Swedish labor law, have it better than most, but not even we are immune to the issues that plague the industry.
The Game Developer Index acknowledges this, stating that "the game industry is not exempt from occasional poor leadership, corporate culture and problems in the workplace" and that "there are challenges with many young new employees, culture clashes with employees from different backgrounds in an international environment, and creative projects where many strong wills need to come together".

Historically, dealing with these kinds of issues has been the purview of local union clubs. The clubs—especially when covered by a collective bargaining agreement—facilitate better communication between company leadership and employees, and are in a better position to manage interpersonal conflicts that their colleagues feel uncomfortable about bringing up with management. If the industry wants to improve this work, the first step should be to encourage their employees to unionize, and then to collaborate closely with the local union club.

Conclusion

I can't tell you for sure that Dataspelsbranschen is anti-union, if only because their complete unwillingness to even mention unions—except for this 2021 news post that mentions that "several of the larger game companies have collective bargaining agreements", even though only two of the largest employers (DICE and Paradox) had one—also prevents them from voicing any negative sentiment.

What I can say is that Dataspelsbranschen seems uninterested in acknowledging how unions could help the industry deal with some of the major challenges that it is facing. In a country like Sweden, where the collaboration between industry and organized labor is celebrated as the linchpin of our economic success, this comes off as both contrarian and irresponsible.

What's more, Dataspelsbranschen is clearly not interested in representing the people who work in the industry. This isn't really that weird; it's a trade organization, so it's supposed to represent the businesses.
But Swedish game developers do need representation. We're the ones who make the games Dataspelsbranschen proudly boasts about when it writes these reports. If you're a game developer in Sweden, I strongly urge you to join Unionen or Sveriges Ingenjörer, as they are the two unions primarily representing game developers right now.

If Dataspelsbranschen isn't interested in representing us, we need to turn to the ones who will.