Over 6,100 gaming jobs have been lost so far over the past year due to layoffs and studio closures, according to new data.
As spotted by GamesBeat, technical artist Farhan Noor has been tracking layoff numbers since the beginning of 2023 on videogameslayoffs.com.
The tracked information includes the estimated number of employees let go, which some companies have not disclosed so the actual number of jobs lost is likely much higher.
According to Noor’s data, September was the worst month for layoffs in the games industry with 17 companies cutting jobs — the highest so far this year.
The reasons 2023 has been such a terrible year for redundancies varies substantially. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, analysts, recruiters, and investors cited the current economic climate as the leading factor, including high interest rates, slowed growth, rising production costs, and increased competition as just some of the reasons why layoffs have become so frequent.
Over 80 gaming companies and media sites have been hit with layoffs so far (the full list can be read below). There have also been 11 studio shutdowns this year including Calypte, Dang, Puny Human, Volition Games, Mimimi Games, Vanpool, CyberConnect2 Montreal, Antimatter Games, Campfire Cabal, Kiloo Games, and PixelOpus.
Embracer Group issued the most rounds of layoffs at seven across its subsidiaries following a restructuring program, with affected studios including Crystal Dynamics, Beamdog, Rainbow Studios, Volition, Gearbox Publishing, and Campfire Cabal.
The highest number of employees affected by layoffs in one parent company was Unity at 900, which saw two rounds of layoffs this year with 600 employees laid off in January and nearly 300 people let go in May.
Epic Games followed close behind, having laid off 830 employees last month with British studio Mediatonic among them. Amazon also saw a high number of employees terminated from Twitch following a round of layoffs earlier in the year followed by another last week.
An unknown number of games people were affected by mass redundancies at larger firms that operate in other industries, such as 10,000 at Microsoft (including Bethesda Game Studios and 343 Industries), 21,000 at Meta, 7,000 at Disney, and 9,000 at Amazon.
Layoffs this year have included:
Telltale Games
Keywords Studios
Twitch
Naughty Dog
Team17
Creative Assembly
Epic Games
Mediatonic
Maze Theory
Blizzard Entertainment
Roblox
Crystal Dynamics
Beamdog
ProbablyMonsters
DoubleDown Interactive
Ascendant Studios
Visual Concepts
Rainbow Studios
VentureBeat
Gearbox Publishing
Romino Games
EastSide Games
Blackbird Interactive
BioWare
Vela Games
Imagendary Studios
Striking Distance Studios
Popcore
CD Projekt Red
Double Stallion Games
TavroxGames
Daedalic Entertainment
Ludia
Niantic
Elodie Games
Wildseed Games
Scavengers Studio
The Game Band
Embracer Group
Inverse
Firemonkeys Studio
BonusXP
Kabam
Gwent team (CD Projekt Red)
Relic Entertainment
Deck Nine Games
Brace Yourself Games
The Molasses Flood (CD Projekt)
Deviation Studios
Ubisoft
Final Strike Games
Plaion
Unity
Phoenix Labs
Waypoint (Vice)
Ready at Dawn
Downpour Interactive
Bungie
Line Games
Take-Two Interactive
GameLoft
Survios
Big Run Studios
Nexon Games West
Mutant Arm Studios
Wicked Realm Games
InnoGames
EA
Hidden Leaf Games
HiRez Games
Meta
Riot Games
Bethesda Game Studios
The Coalition
343 Studios
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
NetEase
