I’ve thought for quite some time that software companies in general, and game developers in particular, are a natural for worker-owned co-ops to break from the stereotypical realm of co-op grocery stores and coffee shops. Start up costs can be kept low, and marginal cost of distribution is negligible.
This seems like a great move.
The problem is artists... They don't generally have the wiggle room a developer has, a handful of devs can take a sabbatical for 6 months easy, but the artists that can pump out assets are either in crazy high demand or need another job to eat. Even supporting another person living in a studio and eating ramen drastically changes the situation
It's actually something I've put thought into recently, i have a friend very passionate about artist exploitation but I haven't figured out the structure to make it work. Artists aren't rare, but they're very in demand... There's got to be some way to help them bind together to take chances like this
This has only been true for the last few years, and pretty much only thanks to valve and Microsoft; the former for finally skipping all publisher requirements for steam in lieu of a refundable $100 deposit, the latter for making dev kits essentially the same cost as normal consoles.
We're at the very beginning of the age of widespread self publishing, without which a software coop makes no sense. I expect many more co-ops to rise from the graves of larger companies as skilled tradesmen learn their loyalty has meant nothing and their skills are truly more valuable on the open market.
This is the exception to the no preordering games rule. Supporting a co-op.