- The games industry has seen thousands of layoffs each year since 2022.
- A popular tracker estimates that more than 57,000 developers have been laid off over the last 4 years.
- Most of these layoffs happened in North America and Europe, with Japanese studios staying relatively safe.
The games industry has lately faced a wave of layoffs that it seemingly has no answer to. All large publishers, including Xbox, PlayStation, EA, Ubisoft, etc. have been hit extremely hard by this trend.
In fact, things have gotten so bad that an estimate suggests over 57,000 game developers have been laid off in the last 4 years.
Why it matters: Layoffs continue to be a problem for the industry, impacting both veteran developers and newcomers.
As per the ASGC games industry layoffs tracker, the industry’s relation with layoffs has gotten progressively worse since 2022.
In 2022, 8,500 job were cut, but this figure nearly doubled to 15,631 in 2024. So far, 2026 has also seen 13,800 layoffs, so it could go down as the worst year for the games industry yet.
Interestingly, the layoffs appear to be concentrated around North America and Europe. Around 96% of the laid off developers were part of these regions, with Japanese studios being much better off.
In fact, the likes of Capcom and Nintendo have almost avoided layoffs altogether. One reason this has been the case is that Japanese executives tend to have more modest salaries.
Also, the Japanese industry wasn’t nearly as quick to pull the trigger on live-service trend-chasing, which allowed it to dodge big-budget failures like Concord and Highguard. Such failures in the West led to entire studio closures and added to the layoffs.
As per Amir Satvat, the creator of this tracker, things in the games industry are currently as bad as they were during the infamous gaming crash of of the 1980s. Unfortunately, with the way the situation is looking, things might get worse before they get better.
What do you think of the games industry’s current situation? Let’s share in the comments below and discuss on the Tech4Gamers Forums.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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