Employees at Heart Machine, the indie developer responsible for Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, have successfully unionized through Communications Workers of America Local 9003. The full-coverage group encompasses the studio's entire 13-member frontline workforce, which gained voluntary recognition in February following an overwhelming vote in favor from qualifying staff.
This union drive emerged amid difficult times for Heart Machine, including workforce reductions in November 2024 and a October 2025 declaration to cease work on the early access project Hyper Light Breaker, along with additional personnel cuts.
"I decided to get involved in organizing my studio because I've seen so many peers in the industry stand up to protect the craft we all care so deeply about. Watching that momentum grow made me realize that if we love this work, we have to protect it, especially now," said Steph Aligbe, a gameplay tools engineer at the studio.
Heart Machine's affiliation with the CWA strengthens the organization's presence in gaming. It already includes thousands of workers from Microsoft-owned studios, plus personnel at EA, Id Software, and various others. The CWA also manages the United Videogame Workers, an independent union introduced in 2025 that enables individual game professionals in the US and Canada to join without requiring elections or employer approval. As major publishers like Ubisoft face persistent job cuts, industry employees are advocating more forcefully for their input.