Sega - It's more than just Sonic Autism

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- “Centerfold’ by J Geils Band
- “The Cup of Life (La Copa de la Vida)“ by Ricky Martin
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These were done better on DDR
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Sega of America is the latest video game studio to organize
It stands to be the largest multi-department video game union in the United States.
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Today, workers at Sega of America’s Irvine, California, office have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The new union, Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS), is partnered with the Communications Workers of America and consists of a supermajority of 144 employees across Sega’s QA, localization, live service, marketing, and product development departments, making AEGIS the largest video game union in the United States made up of workers across numerous departments.

The Verge had the opportunity to speak with workers ahead of the filing who talked about their experience with Sega, the organizing process, and what it means to be a part of a small but growing unionization force in the video game industry.

“Our workers and our audience deserve games made by people who make a living wage,” read the mission statement announcing the AEGIS union. “In our quest to reclaim our collective power, we have built bridges with fellow workers from across our company in an effort to understand our shared issues, and those that are unique to each department.”

AEGIS the largest video game union in the US made up of different departments. So far, most of the country’s video game unionization efforts have been spearheaded by QA departments. In 2022, the Tender Claws Human Union representing the California based VR-focused studio Tender Claws, became the first multi-department video game studio in the US.

Organizing at Sega has been underway for over a year. According to Emma Geiger, a temp localization editor, remote work and siloed departments made initial efforts difficult.

“[Organizing] started out with making friends actually,” they said. “You’d have a couple people on your team that you’d hang out with after work. And then you’d see somebody in the office who was maybe not on your team, but worked in the same space, and you’d reach out. That sort of bridges a little bit of a gap.”

Torie Winkler, senior community manager, said that a mutual love of the games she and her colleagues work on facilitated the discussions and outreach needed to get different departments on board with their unionization efforts. “Through talking about games with people in the localization department or QA was really how I started to learn about the unionization process,” Winkler said. That communication, she said, has paid off.

“And even as we’ve been having discussions throughout this process, it’s really helped to forge connections with people that I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to talk to just in my day to day working environment,” Winkler said.

Sega of America joins a slowly growing cohort of organizing game studios. Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software kicked off a spate of union drives within the company after its QA team voted to organize in the wake of department layoffs. Another QA department, this time within Activision Blizzard’s Albany studio, similarly voted to unionize late last year. A third Activision Blizzard studio, Proletariat, made public their intent to unionize before withdrawing that petition.

After Microsoft announced its intent to purchase Activision Blizzard, it announced that it would take a neutral stance in any organizing activity (a stark contrast to its potential acquiree, which has been hit with several unfair labor complaints). As a result, when QA workers at Microsoft-owned ZeniMax announced their intention to unionize, their labor organization was immediately recognized.

Neither Winkler nor Geiger said they experienced any anti-union sentiments from management and are hopeful that Sega of America and its Japanese parent company will voluntarily recognize the union.

“I really hope that management recognizes that we’re not doing this out of any sort of antagonism,” Winkler said. “We are doing this because we respect our coworkers and we want to be able to make a sustainable workplace.”

The Verge has reached out to Sega for comment.

Correction April 24th, 1:22 PM: Incorrectly stated that ZeniMax Workers United did not need to hold an election after their union was recognized by Microsoft.

Correction April 24th, 1:50 PM: Incorrectly stated that AEGIS would be the first multi-department video game union in the US instead of the largest. In fact, the indie studio union Tender Claws Human Union is a multi-department union established in June 2022.
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Sega of America is the latest video game studio to organize - The Ver…

archived 24 Apr 2023 19:08:25 UTC
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DocAwe said:
Really?
Sega of America... Unionized?
L O FUCKING L
I hope Sega of Japan closes it's American branch.
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They already did. The "Sega of America" we have now is Atlus USA. They're just back to being about as shit as the old Sega of America now
 
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Celebrate Nite said:
Sega of America is the latest video game studio to organize
It stands to be the largest multi-department video game union in the United States.
2dbab00f2b3214b6e15c6ec159d047c57fbc601b.png
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The logo is Sonic's glove in a power gesture, surrounded by a gold ring, with anarcho-communist (or Shadow the Hedgehog) colors behind it.
The name is a character from Persona turned into a clumsy backronym.

Looks like Sega's employees are as autistic as their fans.
 
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Sorry to double post, but....

Me: Daddy SEGA, I want Skies of Arcadia!
SEGA: Mommy Indie Globohomo Beanmouth is making you Skies of Arcadia at home.
....I hate you Mommy.
 
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Vyse Inglebard said:
Liar. If they were, they would've brought Skies of Arcadia back ages ago.
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I hope Skies of Arcadia is included in Yakuza 8. Just like, the whole game. Ichiban can go back to wherever he's staying and there's a Dreamcast hooked up and you can just boot up Skies of Arcadia and play through that in the middle of a Yakuza 8 campaign.
 
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Pissmaster said:
I hope Skies of Arcadia is included in Yakuza 8. Just like, the whole game. Ichiban can go back to wherever he's staying and there's a Dreamcast hooked up and you can just boot up Skies of Arcadia and play through that in the middle of a Yakuza 8 campaign.
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why do that when I can pull up an emulator and play SoA that way instead so I DON'T have to play overrated Japanese gangster game?
 
Vyse Inglebard said:
why do that when I can pull up an emulator and play SoA that way instead so I DON'T have to play overrated Japanese gangster game?
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It might be the only way Skies could ever see a new official release, and it'd be a way to draw in a lot of JRPG fans who never got to play it the first few times around. Unless you're fine with emulation & piracy, Skies of Arcadia's a bitch to obtain.
 
Pissmaster said:
It might be the only way Skies could ever see a new official release
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Please, if SEGA can port the Sonic Adventure games, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, NiGHTS into Dreams......
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FFS, they gave SPACE CHANNEL 5 a Steam port. SPACE CHANNEL FUCKING 5.
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JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, THEY GAVE FUCKING SEGA BASS FISHING A STEAM PORT, BUT THE ONLY CHANCE SKIES OF ARCADIA APPARENTLY HAS IS BEING SNUCK INTO A 45 HOUR-AT-THE-MINIMUM JRPG IN WHICH MOST PEOPLE PROBABLY WON'T EVEN NOTICE IT'S THERE?!
 
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Canned Ham said:
Has Microsoft not fucked up a game company? Halo is dead, Redfall is one of the worst reviewed games of the year, and the indies they bought for 50 cents haven't done anything, except Obsidian.
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I guess in this scenario sega would have become microsoft's gaming division instead of xbox, really the only thing the dreamcast needed was a cash injection to make it to say 2003-04 and then release a new model, it was actually selling well after the price cuts but sega was plain broke, you need some cashflow to keep things going even if sales are up

And even if it became a part of xbox I seriously doubt it would be as mishandled as rare was given the size sega has, and as long as they bring in the money I doubt gates or ballmer would've messed with it, unlike the xbox which was a fucking money burning pit until the late 2000s with the x360 gaining steam, then fucked it again with the xbone. I bet they still regret not doing it after the fucking disaster xbox has been in japan, sega could've helped with that

Point is I dont sega microsoft fucking up sega as much as sammy did, because at least they needed the talent, knowhow and IP for the xbox, sammy really only cared about the sega brand alone
 
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I don't think Microsoft would actually buy Sega for a good while. Sure, they may be good partners at some points and all, but that still means nothing.
 
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>SEGA showcases their wares for 2023/early 2024
>it's a potentially-middling 2D Sanic game, and more Yakuza/LAD and Persona shit
vyse done.jpg

I'm so done with getting blue-balled every year, watching all of the other gamers get their dream remasters/sequels; and even if an SoA remaster did eventually happen, this'd be the worst possible time for it, because you know SEGA will fuck it up, somehow, someway. Looks like it's an eternity of playing Legends on Dolphin for me. *sigh*
 
Vyse Inglebard said:
>SEGA showcases their wares for 2023/early 2024
>it's a potentially-middling 2D Sanic game, and more Yakuza/LAD and Persona shit
View attachment 5159480
I'm so done with getting blue-balled every year, watching all of the other gamers get their dream remasters/sequels; and even if an SoA remaster did eventually happen, this'd be the worst possible time for it, because you know SEGA will fuck it up, somehow, someway. Looks like it's an eternity of playing Legends on Dolphin for me. *sigh*
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Are you warming up to that idea of mine of just sticking Skies of Arcadia in as a playable bonus within Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?
 
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Pissmaster said:
Are you warming up to that idea of mine of just sticking Skies of Arcadia in as a playable bonus within Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?
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>sticking an already 40+ hour RPG into an even longer RPG in a place where most people wouldn't even notice it
bold fucking strategy, Piss-Cotton.
 
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