There's a never ending stream of aspiring actors and writers too. Forming a union has offered them some protection from being exploited by studios and perhaps game developers should do the same.
And most of them aren't getting jobs. Software development and acting are barely comparable professions. The average programmer is far better off than the average actor, even with their Union
Electricians earn more than janitors do. But the existence of service workers' unions doesn't make the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers any less legitimate.
Actors and Actresses don't face issues getting roles on the basis that they've been priced out of the market.
Issues in getting jobs have to do with the limited supply of capitalized projects, high project transactional costs (including fairly high financial, equipment and professional costs), restrictions upon actor country of origin on the basis of bilateral entertainment tax treaties and a number of other structural issues. All of these issues mean that there's a substantial amount of activation energy required to get an entertainment product off the ground, which limits the amount of product projects in motion at any given time.
Feel free to look up the various guild pay grades. The minimums are very low, and they're designed to prevent the 'be in this motion picture for free for exposure' race to the bottom, not to price small projects out of the market.
> Forming a union has offered them some protection from being exploited by studios
If the Weinstein scandal is any indication, no it hasn't. Unions are not without their problems, while more widespread awareness about the actual working conditions in any given industry (be it acting or game development) is highly effective, one way or the other. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
