If you have a story to share about your experience with noncompetes, conflict of interests clauses, or just generally want to talk about what it’s like to make video games in 2023, contact Patrick via email (patrick.klepek@protonmail.com) or securely on Signal: 224-707-1561
Benson, now a software engineer in healthcare, did not respond to a request for comment.“Undoubtedly there are many companies that require new employees to sign a non-compete agreement as part of their onboarding paperwork,” said David Hoppe, a lawyer at Gamma Law, “even though non-competes may be illegal in their state or even though the non-compete goes beyond what’s permitted. Some of those employers may not understand the law, or they may want to impose some kind of fear in the employee.”An engineer who lost their job during Microsoft’s recent wave of 10,000 layoffs told Waypoint they hired a lawyer to carefully look through their severance agreement to ensure a noncompete didn’t exist. Thankfully, it did not, and they’ve been able to take interviews. But they had to check.Alongside rising unionization in the video game industry, the FTC’s decision opens the door to conversations about the control companies have, and if the status quo should change.“My attitude is that a company should allow the employee to keep ownership of anything they make on their own time, on their own equipment,” said lawyer Zachary Strebeck, who specializes in video games. “Side projects should be encouraged. But lots of companies don't think this way.”[My] noncompete did absolutely prevent me from getting extra work…if I followed the rules.”
Ultimately, they agreed, and when the job was done, “in a fascinating combination of guilt, thankfulness, and irresponsibility,” the developer went home with an illegal weed brownie.Another developer, who like others asked to remain anonymous to avoid putting their job in jeopardy, was working at a high-profile video game company where an arm of the company also produced films. Because of that Hollywood connection, the developer was not allowed to touch movies, either, even though elements of their job had transferable skills between the two worlds. Despite nothing about their day-to-day job involving film, because of the corporate connections, they were told to turn down any opportunities to work on movies.“This has a pretty demotivating effect on me because it makes me feel like I just need to stymie my own creativity for the duration of my contract. It’s not that I think anything is actionable, it’s that it adds a kind of fear plus sadness over the top of the work for me.”