Nearly 30 Game Studios Were Shut Down In 2023

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Challenging Year For The Game Developers!

Story Highlights
  • 2023 has featured some of the best games in the industry.
  • While the year has been great for games, it hasn’t been great for many game studios.
  • 27 game studios have been closed in 2023 due to various reasons. 

2023 has been a great year for gaming. It was one of the best, if not the best, year for gaming due to the amazing line-up of games. There were great first-party and third-party games that managed to excite the fandom. 

Due to that, the competition at The Game Awards was extreme. While Baldur’s Gate 3 won, other games like Alan Wake 2 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also had chances. As the year has been good for gaming, it hasn’t been good for the studios.

The developers worked hard to bring these games to us. However, nearly 30 studios were shut down in 2023.

Why it matters: While 2023 has brought fans some games that will go down in history, it also was a challenging year for the game developers.

The most recognized studios are Volition, Free Radical, and Mimimi Games.

These studios have released games like Saints Row, Shadow Gambit, and TimeSplitters. While the games above are not that great, they were loved by many fans. With that said, among these 27 studios, many didn’t release a single game.

While that is a wasted potential, it could have been worse if the studios had released the game without 100% certainty. We have already witnessed what happened to The Day Before and its studio.

Volition Games Saints Row
Volition Games Saints Row

The studio has already been closed, and now the game’s server will be shut down on 22 Jan 2024. The year 2023 was difficult for the game studios as there were many layoffs. There were many layoffs from developers as well as publishing companies.  

If we look at Sony, none of their studios are on the list, but they are facing multiple layoffs, including Insomniac and Naughty Dog, while Bungie suffers the most, which could lead to closure. However, Sony might completely acquire the studio before that happens, as the studio currently works as an independent Sony subsidiary. 

Conversely, despite Xbox being on an acquisition spree, none of its studios are on the game studio’s closure list, and its studios are also saved from layoffs.

We think the layoffs and the closure of studios have been very challenging for the developers. However, many studios still stand, and we hope they don’t meet the same fate. 2024 already has a strong line-up for games, so we are hoping for another great year for gaming. 

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