The big studios aren't suffering in the same way the laid off employees are. Their numbers aren't rising at pandemic level and they decide to panic. They aren't shuttering anytime soon.

Asia isn't really booming either. At least if you compare to western studios. Japan had decades of a stangant economy and are coming out of a recession. Any kind of growth is a gold mine for them. China is a minefield as well economically.

> I doubt a union (pre-supposing this is a union, which it is not) would help US studios be more competitive.

It's not about competition, it's about protecting your livliehood so you don't get sacked to make an earnings call look a smidgen better.

The US game industry seems to be collapsing because they do not offer the customers what they want.

Treating employees in the industry fair might not change this, but should be beneficial to them regardless, unless it would make the misalignment of the product offer even worse which is entirely possible.

it doesn’t give consumers what they want—it just targets a small subset willing to spend the most money.

unions aren't directly about consumers. Why argue this angle? Consumers don't get games if devs don't exist.

>it just targets a small subset willing to spend the most money.

people with money aren't worried about getting laid off. Quite the contrary.

Europe seems to be doing alright with the likes of Warhorse, CDPR, Rockstar North, Paradox Interactive etc.

The salaries here are far lower than in the USA which probably helps a bit, that's not good for the workers though of course.