THE PROBLEM

We are in the process of opening an entity that will be our workplace for decades to come. The dream is simple to explain: create games, push boundaries, and reinvest the fruits of our artistic labour back into the creation of more art, the thing we are alive for on this earth. However, to be able to work on games, these labour-intensive works of art, we need capital, in droves. On the one hand, private capital (sometimes in the cloak of "patrons of the arts") has been the preferred shortcut to funding the riskier segment of the arts. On the other hand, capital will always prioritise profit over sustainability and artistic expression, leading to various budgetary and creative conflicts. Thus, the question of organisation becomes a question of the balance of power in this dangerous dance.

THE SOLUTION

There is no solution. Until constraints of creation under capitalism are rendered obsolete and artistic communes will self-organise without constant fiscal anxiety, workers will be urged to form ways to overcome them - partially, often contradictory, envisioning impossible structures that look like fever dreams from different worlds. In this way, capitalism as a social form points beyond itself - and by limiting us it provokes our emancipatory social potential. The following is my attempt of emancipation- the creation of structures that will give us breathing room while still allowing us to swim in the toxic oceans of free market game development.

THE PROJECT

Our plan is to take the time to open a shareholding company, tentatively on April 1st 2025 (hopefully not a fool's errand). It will take time because the company, Summer Eternal d.d., based in Zagreb, Croatia, will have shares comprised of four distinct entities, whose nature and operation is detailed below. Each of the four entities below will be represented in an Assembly and will be expected to try and steer it in their own self-interests (these being: creative vision, workers' rights, corporate profit, and gamers' interest, in varying degrees by various actors).

The day-to-day management will be handled by the board of directors, voted on the Assembly with a simple >50% majority, but larger decisions such as or altering the basic structure or changing the articles of constitution will require a super-majority of 66% and 75%, thus needing to involve most of the stakeholders into these important processes. Following is the explanation of each of these four entities.

CREATIVES HOLD UP HALF THE SKY - CREATIVES HOLD HALF THE POWER

The creative team working on the game full-time should always retain control over the means of their creation. Instead of individualising their stakes as shareholders (which can be sold, inherited, ill-gotten), a co-operative will democratically decide on our course and speed. This co-op will constitute 50% of shares, to be managed equally among all cooperative members. As time goes by, leaving collaborators are opted out, and new ones are co-opted in, thus the current creative team always remains in charge.

WORKERS' SELF-MANAGEMENT

For all those workers who are not part of the creative co-op of full-time workers, a second co-op is being designed, a complex structure that accepts collaborators in all roles (creative or support) taking into account their tenure (short-term or long-term) and scope (part-time, freelancers, outsourcers). This co-op will start with a cautious 25% of shares, implemented in a way similar to existing employee-stock-ownership programs - unlike the first coop, this one will have an “indirect individualised structure”, with people still not holding shares individually (the structure is decommodified) but having the right to capital returns by a system of individual capital accounts. 

To implement both of these co-ops, we have enlisted the aid of the Institute for Economic Democracy from Slovenia, who have already created many successful co-ops using this model. Although the Slovenian law regarding cooperatives is one of the most advanced, we will most probably take the form of a European Cooperative Society - SCE, since our workers will come from various countries all across the continent, and most probably beyond. Both co-ops will be set up in a way that leaving members are paid out, and new employees are co-opted in.

MONEYLENDERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE

A Limited Liability Company will be set up to hold 20% of shares, and this company will be where we will attract investors. As investors add capital to it, this capital will be contractually used to fund the development of the game, similar to standard investment deals developers and publishers sign to fund game development, and, similarly to publishers, when the game is released, this entity will have a revenue-share model as well.

EVERY PLAYER - MEMBER OF THE BOARD

For the final 5% of shares, a non-profit organisation will be set-up, with membership being accepted for those who own our games. Although 5% is a shy amount, it’s still powerful enough for the playerpool to summon a General Assembly to discuss a topic. This non-profit will be the "voice of the gamers" in an experimental attempt to formalise the community decision-making in game development. The non-profit can use the game revenue to organise events, support union-work, or whatever their assembly (comprised of all members) decides on.

To set this up, we will use the widely accepted Fairshares model developed to include workers, investors, various collaborators, and the wider community as stakeholders.

WHAT NEXT?

Currently, we are in the earliest stages of this initiative. In the following months, the company structures will be set-up, and in this delicate time, all community feedback is most welcome. On our end, we will detail this process transparently and diligently so that our efforts may help others with similar ambitions in the future.

FROM THE SPARK, A FIRE?

I would like to conclude by emphasising a very important point regarding the scope of our goals. The greatest trick individualism ever pulled was making us believe we should be the change we want to see in the world. If we want self-organised artistic communes to be the dominant form of gamedev organisation, all we need to do is start one? A journey of a thousand broken dreams starts with this single trap. No, we should in fact be keenly aware that while we are busy self-organising, true exploitation is happening everywhere.

We cannot help the myriad of workers being laid off by AAA companies. Even if we poured all our financial success into disruption, and hired a thousand people (which is explicitly not our plan), our work practices however well or ill designed are just a drop in the hiring ocean.

We could support the unionisation and the collective fight for rights in these large companies, but self-organisation really can't be ordained from outside. And even if it could be nudged, it is a job for trade unions and their community organisiers, a set of skills completely apart from our own.

We also cannot dismantle the monopoly of digital fiefdoms taking 30% platform fees on all game revenue of every single developer out there. Only by an organised resistance of a large number of developers moving to a collectively-owned gamer-friendly platform could this be done. We can welcome and prioritize the rise of such a platform, and actively encourage its creation, as one of the tools of our deliverance from exploitation, but as an individual studio we are powerless.

So, what are we building? A symbol, at best. A pointer to a different way of organising, that could inspire others. At worst, we are just building a haven to shield ourselves from the worst effects of capitalism while we are forced to endure it. However, though escapism is a respite of the soul, we should not delude ourselves that it is escape in itself.