Hacker News Reader

Comment by bob1029 | Hacker News Reader

Unionization seems to be a secondary effect of strategic failure. If there is a causal relationship, I think it happens in reverse.

Walking the game theory backward, if the team was executing successfully and productively and everyone is getting paid fat bonuses then I don't think there is much motivation to get political in the workplace.

Only after the soul has been completely extracted from a company/team does this process seem to occur.

View on HN

> ...and everyone is getting paid fat bonuses...

I wonder how many examples there actually are of the people in the trenches doing the actual work getting a 'fat bonus'.

E.g. the idea that unionization might not be a bad idea usually starts with teams not getting any bonuses after they created a highly successful game, and instead the company preventing such 'problems' by firing most of the team right before a game ships.

Linear Technology gave the same bonus multiplier based on overall company profit, paid out every 6 months. Most years this came out as an extra 30% on top of base comp for literally everyone at the company. Then the founders retired, Linear got Acquired by Analog Devices, and the program was scrapped the next year.

There's also RenTech, which allows employees to invest in their private fund that pays out 40% annually.

So to answer your question: not many, especially not in games.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com