They do; they can just close it. (This is what I would do be honest but let's not get into that).

But at the end; you are right, this is good PR :)

I'm kind of torn on the whole QA union thing. On the one hand, many Unions are awful, causing work stoppages over really petty demands at times, which is something that the already delay ridden gaming industry can't really afford, especially on the AAA level where games already cost way too much to develop, which has drastically lowered the number of risky new AAA IP, in favor of safe formulaic games and sequels, and GaaS gams that can be monetized long term. Unions causing work stoppages and winning their members higher pay will only further increase those AAA budgets and exacerbate those issues, bringing us even less risky AAA new IP in favor of more GaaS, more microtransactions, and more safe, formulaic sequels.

On the other hand, much of the video game QA field is grossly underpaid, most gaming studios are located in urban areas with very high cost of living, places where entry level, studio apartment rent alone can cost $1200 a month or more, with other expenses like gas/transportation, food, and more also costing more, and many of the places where those game studios are located, such as California, are also very heavily taxed. Some of these QA workers are only making like $25,000 to $35,000 a year before taxes, doing full time work, and their benefits packages suck as well or are non-existent compared to other game development positions which require a college degree unlike QA. I just now did a search on Indeed and saw video game QA listings with pay as low as $14.50 an hour, you can just about make that kind of money working at a fast food place or grocery store or gas station these days in a low cost of living town or city, thanks to post-Covid pay increases in many small towns and cities. I live in a small city of 22,000 in a below US average cost of living county, and I have seen fast food places here offering as much as $13 an hour starting pay.

There is also considerably less room for advancement than other game design fields, many gaming companies require a bachelor's degree for their Senior and Lead QA positions, meaning that a High School diploma/GED only Entry Level QA tester often can't get promoted at certain game studios. 

I'm not saying that High School Diploma/GED QA workers deserve to be paid as much as bachelor's degree requiring positions in the rest of the gaming industry, but they at least deserve a living wage for the area where the game studio is located, a halfway decent benefits package (which at least includes health insurance and some paid vacation time), and some room for future advancement to Senior QA positions. Maybe QA workers unionizing can fix these issues, but I'm not sure if Unions can fix the issue, or if they will just take big Union fees while winning their workers very little and causing work stoppages that cause further delays in an already delay ridden industry.

Unions fighting for workers rights are the main reason we have the 8 hour work day / 40 hour work week. Before this people were working 12+ hour shifts and 6 days a week. So I am in favor of unions, even if they aren't all great. 

The gaming industry needs to unionize as it is a fairly underpaid industry for the amount of hours people work.

Game development will always take long, even at the best of times, what publishers should instead focus on is better managers, better scoping, better tools, etc. Scope your teams and projects better from pre-production to production, we also don't need all our games to take 200+ hours to complete and have the prettiest graphics in the world, publishers need to chill, they can handle things a lot better but they choose not to cause it's too much effort, so instead they crunch the shit out of employees.

Reason why publishers stopped doing risky AAA IPs and towards GaaS is because there's simply more money to be made that way, not that the old way didn't make them money, it just wasn't enough, there's a never ending desire for more. Meanwhile companies like Activision-Blizzard make billions in profits per year, they made nearly $3bn in profits for 2021 alone.

As you said, QA is usually treated like shit, I'd say let them go for it, the majority of the QA team voted in favour of it so there's no point in risking pissing them off, if it fails then it fails but let them make that decision at least, they're too important, everyone in the development team is key, the reason why CoD Warzone is a buggy mess is because the QA team went on strike, we can't risk losing developers, especially in these times where everyone is being super competitive.

Thankfully, Microsoft does have amazing pay and benefits so a union is less needed for Microsoft but Microsoft isn't above having multiple issues of their own, from workplace issues to pay, Jez recently reported that Microsoft engineers were annoyed at how much less they're paid compared to others in the industry which is why Microsoft finally decided to increase their pay, although Idk if that was company wide.

Anyone seen colteastwood's most recent video? Friend of mine just told me about it and apparently he goes into exact details about what games will be shown during the June showcase, including surprises that have never been brought up. Colt claims it's from leaks and datamines. I'm conflicted about watching it lol because as cool as leaks can be at times, I feel it would be a lot more exciting to find out about the games as they're being shown.

I watched it and it is mainly obvious stuff with more of a focus on already announced games. He does mention some unannounced games. Not sure where he got some of the information from. Even Jeff Grubb and Jez Corden haven't mentioned any leaks. 

Nope, dude's a pretty awful content creator. Fanboy drivel, plus he said some BS last year about 5 studios being aquired. 

Another fake insider to me. 

Yeah, that's really why I'm not subscribed to him I'll wait till the showcase to be surprised then! 

I don't like Colt at all, he's a colossal Xbox fanboy and tends to make up stuff. Not watching his Xbox conference leak video on principle, but even if I liked Colt I don't want the show spoiled for me this year.