An itch.io game bundle put together by Necrosoft Games and The United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA) union is a new way gamers can show their support for developers who have been let go amidst the ongoing video game industry labor crisis. (Disclosure: I am on a podcast with the bundle’s organizer, Brandon Sheffield, director at Necrosoft Games.) The Game industry hardship bundle contains over 100 games with all proceeds (minus itch.io processing fees) going toward the UVW-CWA’s worker hardship fund that disperses cash to laid-off devs in the US and Canada.
Launched yesterday, July 30, the bundle has already raised over $20,000 at the time of publication. The bundle is pay-what-you-want with a minimum purchase price of $10, offering DRM-free PC versions of games including A Short Hike, SkateBIRD, and my favorite game in the pack, Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. On the other side of this bundle, developers who have been laid-off after January 2024 can go here to apply for assistance. Due to limitations on the UVW-CWA’s jurisdiction, the fund is only available to laid-off devs, contractors, or freelancers in the U.S. or Canada, but you do not need to be a member of the UVW-CWA to receive funds.
The reality of being a video game developer today is that layoffs seem inevitable. Large publishers, small studios, successful games or not, it seems the grim job reaper comes for them all. According to the 2026 GDC State of the Game Industry report, over one quarter of devs have been laid off in the last two years. If you look at just the U.S., that number increases to roughly one-third. But layoffs are more than just a number on a balance sheet indicative of a sick and failing industry. They are human beings whose livelihoods have been taken from them, often in spite of stellar, critically and financially successful work. This bundle and the fund it supports is an effort to keep those lives going, because at the end of the day, community support is the best way through this. The next best way: unionization.
The bundle will be available through August 13.
