In May 2026, employees of Double Fine Productions, then a Microsoft subsidiary, filed a petition to unionize. It appeared at the time to be the latest in a series of union petitions that have found success with sister organizations like Blizzard Entertainment, ZeniMaxand other Xbox-owned game studios. But a new report from Kotaku suggests that from the moment union organizers stepped into the spotlight, they found themselves embroiled in a studio-wide conflict that ended with their petition being withdrawn.
What motivated the conflict? Unfortunately, as Kotaku’s report points out, there appears to be a conflict between Double Fine’s loose organizational culture and the union eligibility requirements as determined by U.S. federal law. This led some employees to cut off communications with co-workers and fueled a number of antagonistic interactions between union supporters and employees who felt Double Fine “didn’t need” a union.
This union campaign was apparently the second to take place at Double Fine, as another one began to gain momentum in 2019 after the studio’s founder and CEO Tim Schaefer delivered an affirmative comedy celebrating unions at GDC 2019. That campaign was stalled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The question of eligibility proved thorny because, under U.S. law, managers with hiring and firing authority cannot join a union. But Double Fine’s flat organizational structure meant that many employees were, at one time or another, managers. Attempts to clear up this confusion have been hampered by some workers’ prediction that unionization would destroy Double Fine’s unique work culture. All of this took place in the shadow of what is known within Double Fine as “The Bad Meeting”, an event documented in the 2023 documentary. Double Fine PsychOdysseywhere a group discussion about a potential crisis became heated.
Sources told Kotaku that the meeting was even more hostile than what was depicted on screen and was emblematic of a reported social division in Double Fine’s work culture. This hostility apparently resurfaced in the union campaign, with an unidentified employee (who was eligible to join the union) reportedly expressing his opposition loudly in his workplace, “yelling at” a co-worker about the union and “making him cry.”
Studio founder and CEO Tim Schaefer acknowledged this conflict in an hour-long interview with Kotaku, which you can read full transcript here. When asked why he or other executives did not intervene as disputes among employees appeared to be escalating, he emphasized his desire to stay out of union conversations because of his role as CEO.
“I felt like I couldn’t interfere between eligible employees’ conversations,” he told Kotaku. When asked why the eight Double Fine union organizers were among the 23 employees laid off in July 2026he denied any connection between the failure of the union campaign and this decision.
“That’s definitely not the reason,” he said. “We didn’t target people for layoffs.” He suggested that the company’s priority was to retain “the people we most desperately need to make these games.” The laid-off workers told Kotaku they received a generous severance package. “I thought it was important to match Microsoft,” the CEO said.
The full story you should take the time to read in full– paints a picture of what happens when sincere questions about union regulations are met with individuals who seem willing to turn those concerns into interpersonal conflict.
“These conversations just amazed me at the immense dysfunction that I was seeing,” said one manager who had not been eligible to join the union. Another ineligible worker told the news outlet that he saw pro-union employees doing their best to answer questions about procedures and eligibility through unofficial channels, while anti-union workers (eligible and ineligible) fought the efforts through company channels.
“Seeing how quickly people who supported unions at other companies turned against their pro-union colleagues made me think a union was absolutely necessary at Double Fine,” this person said. “It was clear that these union busters would not support their colleagues in any way if something bad happened and it became an us versus them situation.”
Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sister organizations owned by Informa Festivals.
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