The striking workers issued a statement through the STJV, Union of Video Game Workers, directly castigating Kylotonn’s management. To put it in context, the employees explain that they are a “subsidiary company” of Nacon in their operation: the publisher is their sole shareholder, owns all of their intellectual property and “finances the studios by project, month by month, exercising a right of life or death over its studios“. According to the strikers, “this structure allows studio and Nacon management to pass the buck as soon as workers demand accountability, wage increases and social measures“.
A long fool’s game
Yesterday, Tuesday July 11, the number 2 of the Nacon group, Laurent Honoret, came to present the publisher’s annual report to the Kylotonn teams. An event underlined as “the only direct point of contact between studio workers and the Nacon group” every year. During discussions with Laurent Honoret, the employees asked Nacon to commit to providing additional resources, which would help them negotiate with their own management: if the publisher releases funds, more excuse for refusing raises. However, Laurent Honoret asserted that “it was the studio management’s prerogative to negotiate more budget with Nacon. In other words, if the ball was long returned between the two entities, it appears that it is actually Kylotonn who held the keys to the negotiation.
Judging this answer”unsatisfactory“, from “to overcome a series of problems and sufferings denounced for a long time by the staff representatives“, employees of Kylotonn therefore left the room after announcing their strike action as well as their demands. especially negotiation processes with managers and other directors. The striking employees denounce in particular a “pathogenic and authoritarian management” as well as “big [sic] difficulties” encountered for the adjustment of their working conditions. Finally, it is a question of “transparency in the negotiation process with the inclusion of staff representatives in the negotiations between Nacon and Kylotonn. All of their demands are available on the STJV website.
The striking employees of Kylotonn also want these demands to apply to the entire Nacon group, starting with the minimum wages, which must be fixed “at least equal to those of Kylotonn after renegotiation” in all other subsidiaries. The “same effort of transparency” is also requested for the other studios of the group.