Developers at Heart Machine, the indie studio behind Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, have formed a union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The wall-to-wall union represents the studio’s frontline employees. Heart Machine has voluntarily recognized the union, and the two parties are at present negotiating their first contract.
Heart Machine’s employees join thousands of other games industry employees who are unionizing. Raven Software’s QA workers were among the first wave, having formed their union in 2022. Other game developers who have voted to unionize or ratified contracts include Id Software’s developers, Bethesda Game Studios workers and several different units under Blizzard.
Heart Machine itself has faced trouble recently. The studio laid off an undisclosed number of staff last October (as well as November 2024) and ended development on its early access title Hyper Light Breaker. The studio reportedly planned to keep making smaller titles with its smaller team, such as Possessor(s), which launched last November.
Steph Aligbe, Heart Machine’s gameplay tools engineer, said in a statement, “I decided to get involved in organizing my studio because I’ve seen so many peers in the industry stand up to protect the craft we all care so deeply about. Watching that momentum grow made me realize that if we love this work, we have to protect it, especially now.”