How NDAs Apply to Work-for-Hire Agreements for Game Writers

For game writers, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is typically the confidentiality layer wrapped around a work-for-hire contract: it keeps unreleased project details, scripts, and studio information private, while the work-for-hire terms determine who ends up owning the writing itself. The two documents do different jobs, and problems usually arise when writers treat the NDA as a formality and don't check how it interacts with ownership, portfolio rights, and the scope of what must stay secret. The SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association) site addresses both sides of this in its "Writing for Hire" series, including John Dale Beety's article on NDAs for game writers and Josh Heath's piece on who owns the rights to the work.

What the NDA does in a work-for-hire deal

In a work-for-hire arrangement, the hiring company commissions writing and, under the contract, is treated as the author and owner of the delivered work. The NDA sits alongside that and covers information rather than authorship. In practice it usually asks the writer to:

• Keep unreleased game content, story bibles, character details, and internal studio communications confidential.
• Avoid disclosing the existence or nature of the project before the company's own announcement.
• Return or destroy confidential materials when the engagement ends.

The practical consequence for writers is that confidentiality can outlast the contract. Even after the work-for-hire relationship ends and the company owns the text, the NDA may still restrict what the writer can say about the project, which directly affects portfolio use and public credit.

Where the NDA and rights ownership collide

The ownership question and the confidentiality question are separate, and the SFWA coverage treats them that way. Ownership terms answer "who owns the words"; the NDA answers "what can I say about them." A writer can sign a clean work-for-hire agreement that assigns copyright to the studio and still be blocked from showing the work publicly by a broad NDA.

That is why the two documents should be read together. If the contract gives the company full rights but says nothing about credit or portfolio use, the NDA's confidentiality clause may effectively decide whether the writer can ever reference the project. Writers who want to list game credits or show samples should look for language in either document that permits disclosure of the writer's involvement after the game is announced, or that carves out portfolio use of published material.

Warning signs in an NDA

Beety's article flags NDAs that writers should hesitate to sign. The useful test is scope: a confidentiality agreement should protect the company's unreleased information, not restrict the writer's general ability to work or speak. Conditions worth questioning include:

• Open-ended secrecy with no end date. Confidentiality that never expires, or that covers information that becomes public through the company's own marketing, is broader than needed.
• Restrictions on future employment or work. An NDA is not a non-compete; language that limits where or for whom the writer can work afterward belongs in a different negotiation.
• Confidentiality that swallows the writer's own pre-existing material. If the writer brings in original concepts or prior work, the NDA should not be read to hand those over or lock them up.
• No carve-out for publicly available information. Once the game ships and details are public, the writer should not still be bound to silence about them.
• Vague definitions of "confidential information." Broad definitions can capture ordinary industry knowledge or the writer's own general skills.

A practical way to review the pair

Read the work-for-hire agreement first and note what it says about ownership, credit, and portfolio rights. Then read the NDA and check whether it undercuts any of those points. If the contract is silent on credit and the NDA forbids mentioning the project, the writer has effectively no public record of the work.

For writers weighing a specific offer, the SFWA articles on NDAs and on rights ownership are the place to start, since they describe the agreement types, rights, and limitations writers can expect when contracting with games companies. The decision rule is straightforward: sign when the NDA protects genuinely unreleased company information and leaves your ability to work, your pre-existing material, and your post-release credit intact; push back or ask for changes when it reaches beyond that.