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As games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake II, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, and so many more marked 2023 as a year of instant hits and commercial success, developers were suffering. Layoffs rolled across the industry worldwide, knocking out a reported 6,500 jobs from studios like Amazon Games, Ubisoft, Epic Games, and Niantic. Roughly one-third of developers were affected either directly or indirectly by job losses in 2023, according to new data released today by organizers of the Game Developers Conference, and the industry impacts will be felt for months to come.
Each year, the GDC polls attendees about issues facing the industry, from layoffs to generative AI to diversity efforts. For the current survey, they polled 3,000 developers from game studios large and small. The replies paint a concerning picture about long-term career sustainability within the game industry, a field that perhaps grew too quickly during the Covid-19 pandemic and is in the midst of rapid consolidation as well as burgeoning unionization efforts.
According to the survey, conducted in October 2023, 35 percent of developers were either laid off or had colleagues laid off at their companies. Of those layoffs, it was quality assurance workers who seemed to have been most impacted; 22 percent of QA workers said they’d been laid off in the last year. Only 7 percent of developers overall reported losing their jobs. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s quality assurance workers that have been leading the union charge at companies like Activision Blizzard.)
Developers also expressed apprehension that their companies could have layoffs within the next year, with 56 percent of respondents declaring some level of worry about future cuts. “The layoffs are concerning because they don’t seem to be following the ‘typical’ cyclical trend of layoffs after a project ships,” said one respondent. “Not that that was great either, but it’s hard to predict these days where and when layoffs might happen.”
Many developers believe the reason behind the industry’s mass layoffs is pandemic-related: Studios that ballooned in headcount are now facing harsh realities as people spend their money elsewhere. “I see it as a correction now that revenue is back to more normal levels post-pandemic,” said one respondent. Another deemed it “a reality of doing business” in changing markets.
Job insecurity can lead to bigger problems for developers than just finding new work. Developers on work visas face the threat of deportation and losing the lives they’ve built abroad. For others, it keeps them from seeking out jobs with healthier environments: “I feel forced to stay in a toxic environment.”
For smaller studios looking to survive, the industry’s rush toward consolidation may offer some solace. According to a developer at “a small company just trying to make ends meet, there is an allure in making oneself desirable for acquisition.” It alleviates some of the pressures caused by financial burdens. Developers are still split on the impact of consolidation at large, however; 43 percent believe it will negatively affect the game industry.
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In 2023, Embracer Group became the poster child for the struggles of acquisitions. After gobbling up studios such as Gearbox Software and Crystal Dynamics, the company cut hundreds of jobs last year to staunch its financial bleeding; it closed other studios, like Saints Row developer Volition, entirely. “Once a huge publicly traded company buys up large swaths of an industry,” said one developer about Embracer’s fumbles, “it will inevitably end up creating redundancies and placing innovative, more ‘exploratory’ studios in a position where they’ll never be seen as profitable enough for shareholders.”
The game industry as it exists today is a difficult one to stay in for the long term. According to the GDC’s survey, 56 percent of developers have been involved in games for 10 years or less. Of those with longer tenures, 87 percent are men; 92 percent of those men are white.
Instability within the games industry continues to fuel support for unionization. The GDC found that 57 percent of developers are in support, a number that’s up from 53 percent last year. “Used to be extremely anti-union, as it felt it would adversely impact an industry reliant on flexibility and innovation to continue to thrive and grow,” one developer responded. “I still mostly feel this way, but the large-scale layoffs are making me rethink my otherwise confident stance.”
Layoffs and working conditions, including increasing AI use, are just a few reasons some developers are pro-union. “One of the departments at my company unionized, and they were less impacted by layoffs than other departments,” said one developer. Another pointed to concerning working conditions at their company. “I got a 1 percent raise during an 8 percent inflation period,” they said. “My needs around WFH flexibility are getting ignored. Incoming AI automation is a risk to my job security. Crunch is coming back. Leadership won’t listen.”
The full impact of 2023’s layoffs may not be obvious immediately, but the massive loss of jobs, and in some cases whole studios, as well as consolidation, will inevitably mark the games people play. “We’re working in a deeply unfair industry,” said one developer, “and the massive loss of talent and morale will be felt in the coming years.”
