The United Videogame Workers union (UVW-CWA) has launched a new fund to help laid off workers across the US and Canada. The Game Worker Hardship Fund, as it’s called, is available to anyone who’s been laid off from January 2024 to the present day.
Laid-off industry workers do not need to be members of the union to apply. You also don’t need to have been directly laid off to apply, so long as you’ve experienced some layoff-related hardships – though those laid off will take priority in the allocation of funds.
The fund is intended to help with work and life expenses, and those who apply are asked to provide “a basic estimated budget of itemised expenses”. There are two available tiers: the Small Fund Tier, which provides up to $1,000 (£747) and the Major Expenses Tier, which can reach as high as $5,000 (£3,733). UVW-CWA membership fees will be used to fund both tiers.
The union said that it plans to respond to applicants in batches, based on the urgency of their request. “As this is our first time launching this fund, we plan to update this FAQ with more concrete details on timeline after we have approved our first batch of funds,” the union said.
If you’re in the games industry in the US or Canada and want to support this fund financially, the UVW-CWA said the best way to do so is to join the union. “This fund comes directly from our membership dues and as we grow our membership, it enables us to take on more ambitious initiatives to improve our industry in the coming years,” the union explained.
If you’re outside the industry, however, you can still contribute. A new itch.io charity bundle is going live this month. It’s been put together by Necrosoft Games, creator of tactical RPG Demonschool, and 100 percent of its proceeds will go towards the hardship fund.
Although the assistance fund was announced prior to Monday’s sweeping Xbox layoffs, which impacted 3200 people, its timing is nevertheless impeccable. Thousands of the people affected by the layoffs will be able to receive some sort of lifeline to help them navigate the next few months.
The United Videogame Workers union was established at GDC in 2025 as a direct-join union for developers in the US and Canada. Direct-join unions allow workers to join a union individually, without having to go through processes specific to their workplace. The UVW is not limited to any particular studio or publisher, and was established in partnership with the Communications Workers of America union (CWA), itself one of the largest unions in the tech sector.
The largest game worker union in the UK, the Game Workers branch of the Independent Workers Union (IWC), is currently working with the Rockstar Games subsidiary to aid members of the union in getting the studio to recognise their union before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 this November.
