" I am now on a third week of crunch, without weekends, all to make it to the Steam sale; something that a union would fight against."
No, a union would just make sure you're actually paid for it, instead of being coerced into giving away your life for absolutely nothing.
"I can also negotiate quite well on my own behalf with employees. If I was in a union, I would, through involvement in collective negotiation, effectively share my strong negotiation position with other developers in the industry, bringing them forward and print me back. Why the hell would I do that?"
So "fuck you, I've got mine".
I was in the game industry for twelve years and the GP's comments illustrate why it would be so difficult for unions to form, especially if it included software developers - so many think they are the ne plus ultra of developer but somehow they are not John Carmack famous or giving away the source code to previous game engines for people to learn from because they write something revolutionary every few years ala Carmack.
Unions, above all, help those on the lower part of the bell curve. They commoditize labor, introduce standard metrics, push towards mediocrity and destroy competition between individual contributors. I am now on a third week of crunch, without weekends, all to make it to the Steam sale; something that a union would fight against. But it's a crunch I'm highly motivated for, and one I will personally benefit from; a union would limit my ability to push forward and advance my career.
I can also negotiate quite well on my own behalf with employees. If I was in a union, I would, through involvement in collective negotiation, effectively share my strong negotiation position with other developers in the industry, bringing them forward and print me back. Why the hell would I do that?