Over 50% of layoffs in the gaming industry have taken place in California, expert says

In recent years, the gaming industry has seen countless waves of layoffs at companies of all sizes, but Game Changers award winner and gaming jobs expert Amir Satvat has revealed that more than half of the layoffs have occurred in California.

The details:

• Speaking with The Game Business, Satvat shared some data on industry layoffs, revealing that North America has been hit particularly hard by the cuts. "Over 70 percent, and in some years 75 percent, of the layoffs have been in North America," according to Satvat. "North America used to have 30 percent, 35 percent, or 40 percent of the open roles, and that number is now down to 25 percent."
• He went on to say that "over 50 percent of the cuts globally have been in California," with many of the job losses occurring in the AAA sector at larger studios. It should also be noted that the overall size of workforces in the US has decreased significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw an increase in investments and hiring as many people began to work remotely.
• However, things are looking better in regions other than North America, particularly Asia, where employment has increased since the pandemic. "There is opportunity, but it may be that if you want to stay in the industry, being open to going to some of these places like China or Japan, not forever, but for some amount of time, is going to become a larger part of the equation," Satvat said.
• Over the last three years, it is estimated that at least 30,000 people have lost their jobs in the gaming industry, with 4,400 of those cuts taking place in 2025 alone. Most recently, it was announced that Microsoft had made company-wide reductions affecting several of its gaming studios, including Rare, The Initiative, and King, with the cancellation of Perfect Dark's reboot eventually leading to layoffs at Crystal Dynamics.