U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination ahead of the 2020 presidential election, has tweeted in support of unionization in the game industry.
His comments give a sizable platform to unionization conversations that have been getting louder and louder across the game industry in recent years following discussions about crunch, worker exploitation, and unfair wages throughout major game studios.
“The video game industry made $43 billion in revenue last year. The workers responsible for that profit deserve to collectively bargain as part of a union,” tweeted Sanders.
Sanders’ comments came in response to a Time story on burnout and crunch in the video game industry, and voices support for organizations like Game Workers Unite and The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees that have been vocal proponents of game industry unionization. Game Workers Unite specifically has been at the forefront of many such conversations since it was founded last year, and was behind the creation of the UK’s first union for game industry workers that same year.