The game development industry is one of Sweden's fastest growing, yet still lacks a collective agreement for employees. According to Thomas Andrén, this has been demanded for a long time by both employees and trade unions.
But nothing has happened – until now.
We have sat with the trade unions for many years and what we see now is a result of those talks. The collective agreements that already exist out there do not quite suit us and we see a need for a tailored agreement for our industry, says Thomas Andrén and emphasizes that it is also an advantage for employers:
Confirmation for the industry
We operate in a hyperglobalized industry and compete with studios worldwide. Therefore, it is important that we as employers are attractive. It is also about a confirmation for us as an industry. The game industry is probably Sweden's largest cultural export today. We employ an incredible number of people and need to live up to that.
In the beginning of the year, Thomas Andrén, together with a number of other game developers, took the initiative to form a working group that will come up with a proposal for a collective agreement. Today, about ten game developers are part of the group to discuss needs together with local and national trade unions.
It will be extremely exciting to see the result and the hope is, of course, that we will get a agreement, says he.
Employees are positive
Malmö-based Sharkmob is one of the game developers that are part of the working group and sees great advantages with a collective agreement that is specifically designed for the industry.
We are not purely media, we are not purely technology, and we do not fit into the industry side either. We need to find something that can satisfy this mix of professionals that is needed to make a game, says Fredrik Rundqvist, CEO of Sharkmob.
According to him, the company's employees have already expressed themselves positively to the initiative. It is very many who are affiliated with the trade union. It does not have to mean that they are affiliated with a collective agreement. Many want it and we understand that, but then it is also about to come up with a branch agreement, says he.
In 2023, there were over 1,000 active game companies, of which 108 were started, in Sweden.
Newly employed were 644 people, which is an increase of nearly eight percent.
In total, the industry employed over 9,000 people in Sweden and nearly 16,000 internationally.
Together with subsidiaries, the Swedish game companies had a global turnover of 90.4 billion kronor.
Together, the turnover of the 23 listed computer game companies amounted to 64 billion kronor, which is a tripling since 2020.
Source: Massive Entertainment
