Union Busting on Tarmac, Gravel, and Snow

It's been nearly a year since it was first announced by the World Rally Championship that French publisher Nacon had regained the licensing rights for a dedicated WRC video game. after the license was in the hands of Codemasters and Electronic Arts for a cup of coffee. The assumption a year ago was that the development of the next WRC game would fall back into the hands of Kylotonn under their KT Racing label. On the face of it, it makes a ton of sense; KT Racing's later WRC offerings were significant improvements over earlier numbered WRC offerings and proved that more realistic rallying offerings could have great single player modes on offer after Codemasters failed to deliver on that outside of DiRT 4.

But things get weird from here. It won't be Kylotonn making the upcoming WRC title, but rather a new developer under Nacon's purview called Grit Games. The bulk of the staff at Grit Games, including team lead Hardouin Pouzet, all come from KT Racing which begs the question: why not just continue with a known thing even if some of the knowledge and expertise is being retained at the new studio? There is more to the story than just dividing resources with Kylotonn focusing on the post-launch life of Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown and their upcoming release of Motorsport Endurance Series.

Nacon filed for insolvency in February in a bid to restructure the €43 million of debt they and their parent company Big Ben Interactive have been unable to repay. The following month, multiple studios working under Nacon too filed for insolvency which included Kylotonn. The first real victim of the financial crisis facing the French publisher was developer Spiders; who was forced to shut down at the end of April a month after their final game, GreedFall 2: The Dying World, was released. The claim is that a purchaser for the RPG-focused developer couldn't be found while other developers dealing with Nacon's failing finances remain currently in limbo, including Kylotonn.

The plans for Kyloton's future remain muddy with rumors that the team is being restructured, reducing the team's size and focusing on keeping the lights on at Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown while it can still produce revenue as a game as a service. What life Motorsport Endurance Series will have beyond when it gets released is anyone's guess, especially as team members who's expertise would've been useful for the game instead being injected into a whole new studio entirely in a key point in the game's development. There is a key connection between both Spiders and Kylotonn being the primary developers affected by their and by Nacon's insolvency at this point: they are two major studios owned by Nacon that are unionized.

The employees at Kylotonn and Spiders that make the games that Nacon publish are members of Le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses du jeu vidéo, which translates to Union of Video Game Workers. The union, founded in 2017, has around 1000 members representing thirty development teams across France with Spiders and Kylotonn the primary developers to also be a part of Nacon. The STJV's goals and focus is simple: ensure that the people of all genders, races, sexual identifications and preferences that make these video games have their voices be heard by those who publish and play these games and to have their needs met. Such needs include making sure that labour laws respected, fighting against discrimination in the industry, and continue to improve working conditions in a field where long hours are often the norm as games approach release. Unionization in the video gaming field is not commonplace, but the battle remains the same and it follows in the footsteps of unions across the world: to ensure that the labour that creates all wealth gets what they deserve in the face of the rampant greed and abuse by the powers that be.

Those powers that be, being ownership, shareholders, executives and management, always see things differently. Paying the hardest working employees their fair share, making sure they aren't worked to the bone and without overtime pay, have paternal leave and other benefits, and potential access to a pension is often seen only as a detriment to the bottom line regardless of the potential overwhelming return that can result from a workforce that isn't working under duress. It's also perceived as a loss of power and control by the ruling class even as their power and wealth is fully dependent on those they as below them being capable of doing the job required of them at all. For them, it's imperative to break the will of the working class and their attempts to uprise and take away from their desire for more capital. Every attempt by the working class to organize and unionize will be fought against with an array of tactics to avoid unionizing efforts and to union bust those who've manage to get this far in the forever uphill battle.

In the midst of Nacon's strife done at their own hand, surviving insolvency is not enough and the attempt to better mold the teams under their purview in their vision is happening at the same time; and is being done in a way to attempt to weaken the strength and resolve of those who are organized. One of the most common union busting tactics being used in high-profile cases by Starbucks and Amazon is to deliberately penalize and harm those leading the charge in unionization efforts, and then replace them with facilities and staff who aren't pro-union if they're replaced at all. The DXT4 Amazon warehouse in Montreal, Quebec was suddenly shut down in January of 2025 and all it's workers, represented by Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux, were laid off before a first contract offer from Amazon was set to be tendered to the worker's bargaining committee. It effectively resets the process of workers trying to unionize and fight for better working and living conditions back to square one, while Jeff Bezos's net worth continues to rise regardless if he would notice the difference either way. There is a belief within Le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses du jeu vidéo that there was no real attempt to find a buyer for Spiders, and Nacon saw it better to shut down the studio and reduce the union's strength within their developer core.

Every unionized worker laid off and fired reduces the strength and unified will to oppose the efforts to union-bust, while also doubling down efforts to fight back. As noted by the STJV in a statement released on May 6th,

Kylotonn’s workforce and skills were already partially looted after the creation of Grit Games, a studio even more integrated in Nacon, which picked up the WRC licence. It appears that Grit Games hand picked its employees, being careful to avoid recruiting union members, women and gender minorities.

The statement would then document the efforts by Nacon to effectively turn Kylotonn into a zombie studio; stripping the power and self-determination the development teams based in Paris and Lyon would be able to have as they continue to fight to ensure a future for their teams, and it's employees in the midst of Nacon's insolvency crisis. A part of this includes not giving Kylotonn the chance to develop the next licensed World Rally Championship game, instead giving the nod to a studio made up out of thin air that won't fight back against the will of Nacon. It prompted Kylotonn to go on strike until at least May 10th to protest the tactics being done by management between the restructuring and reducing the studio's power and leverage, as well as the silent treatment being done by Nacon to potentially not have to deal with coming to the table in good faith. You don't have to come to the bargaining table in good faith if you eliminated the need for it in the first place, and the primary way for workers to fight back is to simply withdraw the labour that the capitalists and management are dependent on.

At the same time, the easiest way to always prevent the withdrawing of that labour from happening is to simply give the workers what they are asking for. Perhaps then some cooperation over a common goal, being the survival of Nacon, Kylotonn and all the other development studios affected, can be better put into focus in a positive way. Though with Nacon's disdain for the employees that make their capital possible, it seems unlikely at this point as they continued on with the Nacon Connect showcase video on May 7th acting as if none of this was happening.

We don't even know what a perspective WRC game from Grit Games is going to look like beyond it's usage of Unreal Engine 5, and it may be years before gameplay footage surfaces. This initial blow by Nacon to do union busting by creating a new studio fully made of members more aligned with Nacon leaves a sour taste as they already show a disdain for those who make these game possible. It's not the management that makes these games, it's the developers and they deserve to have their voices heard and needs met. A lot of this road traveled by Nacon was avoidable if they did listen to their developers to allow better games and experiences to be made and in conditions that allowed their teams to thrive, which would then make everyone more money. Among the worst kind of video games are the ones made by union busters and scabs, and that includes racing games.

The STJV has a strike fund set up for the affected workers, which can be found here. Solidarity with the workers, and don't cross the picket line!