10 Days Into 2024 And 2300+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced
This year is already looking to be another horrible one for people making games
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/10945203
Mostly from Unity: 1800 through the end of March.
Is anyone tracking total layoffs per year? I feel like last year was nutty and its only getting worse, but feelings only go so far and id love to see some data
Check this out - https://layoffs.fyi/
Already double the amount of people vs the article.
I'd like to see hires as well. I'm guessing they massively ramped up during COVID and now they're returning to pre-COVID levels, but I don't have the data for that.
They're doing what they always do: mass layoffs of senior staff from November till Feb. to increase money for shareholders, then they hire recent grads starting in ~march-may for their next project cycle.
Rinse, repeat. I started in the games industry a little shy of 20 years ago, and I only know two people still in it.
Video game companies are the least loyal to their employees of any industry that I, or family/friends of mine, have ever worked in. In 19 years I was in 8 different layoffs. The longest I ever worked anywhere was four years (at five they have to give you full-time full benefits).
One time I signed up for my EI after a layoff a government employee (I'm Canadian) referred to video game workers as effectively "seasonal". Average is 18 months working, six months unemployed.
