German F2P publisher Goodgame Studios recently fired 28 people - and the reason might be backfiring at them. Actually, 28 people losing their job with a publisher employing almost 1300 on staff might seem minor, because this sort of fluctuation is quite common for a company the size of Hamburg-based free-to-play specialist who currently employs 1288 people. So it could be down to normal circumstances such as cancelled projects, or organisational restructuring. But in this case the dismissed employees appear to have something in common: They are said to have criticised the company and tried to set up a works council. Basically organise the staff in a union.
Gamereactor requested a comment from Dirk Hensen, Head of Communications & Public Affairs: "After careful consideration, the company has decided due to operational reasons such as performance deficits to let go 28 employees from different departments with immediate effect." Our question whether it was true that those employees were among them who have tried to set up a works council, the manager did not get answered. An internal source has told us that the dismissed employees "were certainly not fired because of performance deficits".
For a while there have been critical voices in the industry on the working atmosphere at Goodgame Studios. Former employees express themselves less positively, noting among other things, the absence of a works council. A works council is something that almost all companies the size of Goodgame Studios have in Germany as companies are required to set them up by law if the employees want them. Goodgame could now open themselves up to legal issues as these former employees may seek compensation. Incidentally Goodgame Studios is currently looking to hire over a hundred new employees.