Developers at French studio Spiders will receive better pay after threatening to strike.
Workers at Greedfall 2 developer Spiders have secured improved salaries and remote work policies a week after threatening to go on strike.
In a statement sent to Game Developer by Spiders management, the company stood by its previous claim that statements about poor conditions at the company made by the Video Game Workers Union (STJV) were "false and defamatory"...before announcing that the studio had negotiated new pay raises and other improved quality-of-life policies with employees.
The company agreed to workers' demands for increased wages, announcing that it is raising the minimum salary at the company by 11 percent starting in September 2024, retroactive to April 1, 2024. This amount was proposed by studio management and "aligned" with the requests of the union delegation. The average employee will see a three percent salary increase as a result of this pay bump.
Workers will also now benefit from a new "telework company agreement project" that will improve its remote working policies. Spiders management wrote that the company will "establish rules" around remote work that are "in line with practices already in place at Spiders, without altering their key principles." The company will also conduct an audit on working conditions and the company environment.
Leadership at Spiders still seems to bristle at how the SJTV portrayed the company in its call for a strike last week. "The management of Spiders emphasizes that the working conditions prevailing within the studio do not correspond to the portrayal made by some in the media in an attempt to destabilize the company," it wrote. "The management relies on everyone's sense of responsibility to ensure that the quality of dialogue it values and has maintained in the last days [sic] is preserved in the future."
It also argues that the "portrayal made by some in the media" of the studio is an "attempt to destabilize the company."
The statement's repeated reference to defamatory language is interesting given the history of libel lawsuits from French game development studios, such as when Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream successfully sued Le Monde for libel over its coverage of allegations of a toxic workplace culture at the studio.
French libel and slander laws work very differently than American or British laws, and the company's posturing here could be preparation for a lawsuit of its own if the SJTV makes further accusations.
Regardless, the union's pressure seems to have a positive effect for Spiders employees.
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