The writers of Voltage Entertainment’s mobile romance game,Lovestruck, announced a unanimous strike several days ago. The decision came after Voltage USA management refused to concede to the writing team’s demands for improved working conditions, greater transparency, and more significant protections.
The group of writers, introducing themselves as the Voltage Organized Workers, declared the strike in a brief Reddit post summarizing the extent of Voltage’s grievances. According to the post, Voltage Entertainment pays itsLovestruckwriters “less than half the industry standard rate” while expecting they “meet extremely tight deadlines and produce enormous amounts of content without protections or benefits.” After five days, Voltage has responded by firing its entire team of writers.
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The game’s writers initially made a request to Voltage USA’s management, unanimously demanding they recognize the above-mentioned concerns by taking effective action. After management refused to comply, the Voltage Organized Workers decided to protest by standing together and effectivelyunionizing, like other gaming industry workers.
Insofar as tangible changes, players were expecting a delay on any significant content updates. Given the writers' tight deadlines, it was unlikely there’d be many stories/events awaiting release from the backburner, andwithout any writers, it’d be near-impossible to craft a content update. The writers' statement itself reminds players that although “the strike won’t immediately affect content in the app, it will certainly delay stories that [they’re] eager to see.”
A lot of players also asked: “How can I help? Should I stop playingLovestruck?” Well, fortunately, the Voltage Organized Workers were thoughtful enough to include some specific examples of how they would most like to be supported.
As seen above, even the writers on strike requested that playersnotboycott the game. Any fans hoping to show their love for theLovestruckwriting team could do so by instead heading over to Voltage’s website, and voicing their support/concerns directly. Needless to say, the writers also made it clear that fans should refrain from any sort ofretaliatory harassment, bullying, or trolling.
After five days, the strike took a shocking turn of events whenVoltage Entertainment released an official statement regarding the writers. In short, Voltage management used their statement to announce that they resolved the issue (by firing all 21 writers,) and to further assert that they would not recognize the Voltage Organized Workers as a legitimate union.
Lovestruck, which offers players 50 unique characters to “fall in love with”, isa game that champions inclusivity, and that used to pride itself in a writing team comprised entirely of people of marginalized genders and/or sexualities. The progressive sentiment is appreciated, but it goes without saying that the writers expected theirLovestruckbosses to put their money (and general support) where their mouth was. Given that their romance game is almost entirely narrative-driven, this sudden lack of writers is surely a dagger to the heart for fans.
Lovestruckis available now on the App Store and Google Play.
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