Who are we?

We’re a team of academics studying the working conditions of the game industry. We are focused on work/life balance, equity, compensation, hours of work & representation.

Since 2008-09 we have worked in partnership with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) to distribute and analyze the Quality of Life Survey (2009) and Developer Satisfaction Surveys (2014, 2015). Through this partnership we produce summary reports on the data that bear the IGDA branding, but we maintain intellectual independence from the IGDA.

Since 2013 we have held a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study risk, regulation and citizenship at work in the context of the project-based environment of game development. To date this has involved us conducting 100 interviews with Canadian game developers in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver.

In addition to the industry reports from the IGDA surveys, we also write academic articles about work in the game industry. Many can be found in open access by following the links to our personal websites below.

Marie-Josée Legault

Marie-Josée Legault has taught labour relations at Téluq (Université du Québec) since 1991, where she is also responsible for a program in labour relations. She is also associate professor in Laval Faculty of Law and UQAM department of sociology. She’s currently pursuing research in the so-called knowledge economy, particularly where project management is involved, among software designers and videogame developers in Canada. She’s been responsible for 4 formally funded research teams & projects, some of them involving industry partnership. She’s part of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT). A detailed list of professional activities is available on line and many papers are available in open access.

You can email Marie-Josée at mjlegaul@teluq.ca.

DAN Faculty Headshots - 18_09_04-6 (1).jpg

Johanna Weststar

Johanna Weststar is a professor of labour relations in the DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies at the University of Western Ontario. Johanna’s primary area of research is the digital game industry where she is interested in issues of workplace citizenship, representation, working conditions and the labour process, project management and occupational identity. She has also published research on workplace learning among computer programmers, labour representation on pension boards, pregnancy leave policies, industrial relations climate and underemployment. She teaches courses in labour/industrial relations, employee training and development, and project management. She is a member of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT). Open access publications at Scholarship@Western and GameQoL

You can email Johanna at weststar@uwo.ca.