GDC survey reveals over a quarter of game developers have been affected by layoffs in two years

More than a quarter of game developers surveyed for GDC’s latest State of the Game Industry report say they have lost their jobs to layoffs in the past two years, with US workers hit particularly hard and many still unable to find new roles.

The details:

• According to this year’s State of the Game Industry report, which polled over 2,300 games industry professionals worldwide, 28% of respondents said they had been laid off at least once in the last two years. The figure rises to 33% when only taking into account those based in the US, meaning around one in three game workers surveyed were affected by job cuts overall.
• The report notes that 17% of those surveyed said they were laid off in the past 12 months alone, and another 11% were let go the year prior. It’s also explained that some workers have in fact been laid off several times in the past few years due to widespread cuts across the gaming industry, with half of those affected by the layoffs still yet to find new roles.
• Many of the layoffs have been attributed to economic and strategic factors such as company restructurings, budget cuts, shifting market conditions, project cancellations, and changes in strategic direction. It’s also noted that the overexpansion of companies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a massive influx of investments in the gaming industry, and the rise of powerful generative AI tools may have also contributed.