WOPE Seminar Series. How to Beat the Boss: Marx, games and worker organising.
Published: 20 January 2026
1 February 2026. WOPE Seminar Series with Dr Jamie Woodcock, Kings College Lonon
Dr Jamie Woodcock, Kings College London. How to Beat the Boss: Marx, games and worker organising.
Wednesday, 11 February 2026. 15:00 - 16:30 Room 383, Adam Smith Business School Building
Abstract
There has been a wave of unionisation in the games industry since the formation of GWU (Game Workers Unite) in 2018. As this workers’ movement spread and developed, game workers have sought to unionise in different local contexts, involving a range of different collective actions. The talk builds on the Game Worker Solidarity (GWS) project and the book Marx at the Arcade (as well as a new book project on Marxism and games). GWS is mapping and documenting collective movements by game workers. It started as a collaboration between academics and game workers, particularly seeking to collect and preserve an emerging history of game worker organising. The talk discusses case studies of game worker organising, exploring the relationship to the labour process, forms of collective action, employer responses, and unionisation in the games industry. Drawing on a range of examples from GWS, as well as case studies from Britain, North America, and Europe, the paper develops an argument about the changing nature of game work, highlighting how the labour process and the class composition of game workers shape their ongoing struggles. It reflects on what happens when game workers meet union and the implications for arts and cultural workers, as well as non-union workers more broadly.
Bio
Dr Jamie Woodcock is a senior lecturer in digital economy at King's College London. He is the author of books including Troublemaking (Verso, 2023), Employment (Routledge, 2023), The Fight Against Platform Capitalism (University of Westminster Press, 2021), The Gig Economy (Polity, 2019), Marx at the Arcade (Haymarket, 2019), and Working the Phones (Pluto, 2017). His research is available to read online and has been featured widely in the media. It is inspired by workers' inquiry and focuses on labour, work, the gig economy, platforms, resistance, organising, and videogames. He is on the editorial board of Notes from Below and Historical Materialism.
For further information, please contact business-seminar-series@glasgow.ac.uk.
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First published: 20 January 2026
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