Staff from IGN are joining game studios by unionising, with IGN Creators Guild

Posted on February 8, 2024

In what may come as a surprise to many people, staff members from IGN have now gone ahead and created a union.The union, named IGN Creators Guild, is unionising with NewsGuild-CWA.

The staff made their announcement earlier today stating that the IGN Creators Guild has over 80 writers, editors and creators. While at the moment it’s only made up of full-time staff, they hope to build solidarity with freelancers.

Originally, IGN began in 1996 as “Imagine Games Network”, with five sites covering different topics like consoles and games. Two years later, they re-launched combining the five sites into one, which also allowed them to branch out to other nerdy stuff, like comics, movies and TV shows. Media company Ziff Davis acquired IGN in 2013 as its previous owners, News Corps., couldn’t spin off IGN as a separate company. Of course, now IGN is one of the biggest news outlets for video games, but it also does have a few controversies under its belt. Like the sexual harassment of a former editor, taking down an article to show support for Palestine and creating sponsored content with the U.S. Military.

In IGN Creator’s Guild mission statement, the guild recognises that “there are countless irons in countless fires as our team continue to deliver multi-award winning original coverage of games, films and television, technology and more”. Adding that, none of what IGN is today would be without the staff of IGN, whether this be the writers, editors, and other creatives. As the team has endured a pandemic, entertainment strikes, live events, surprise trailer leaks, etc. IGN isn’t the only media space to strike as of late, as they make note that the L.A. Times, The New Yorker, Vice and Time are all striking as well.

IGN Creator’s Guild wants to see IGN “grow and thrive as digital media continues to become more and more tumultuous”. But, they need the support of the many readers around the world. In a statement to Kotaku, Max Scoville, the senior producer and host who has been with the company for nine years says that he’s “immensely proud of this team”. Adding, “IGN is already an industry leader in entertainment media, but it’s crucial that we ensure it also continues to be a bastion for the human beings who give it a voice.”

You can support the guild by signing and sharing their petition, as well as following them on social media under the handle @IGNUnion.