September is easily the worst month for job losses in the games industry this year, but the rest of 2023 hasn’t been much better.
It’s already been obvious that there is a worrying spate of layoffs across the games industry at the moment. Multiple companies, including the likes of Naughty Dog and Epic Games, cut jobs almost simultaneously, painting a very grim picture of the industry’s future.
It’s not as if the last month is some unfortunate one-off either. Someone has crunched the numbers and estimated that in 2023 alone, more than 6,000 employees have been made redundant.
September is just the worst month for it, with no less than 17 game companies issuing layoffs.
This is according to data compiled by Farhan Noor, a technical artist at League Of Legends maker Riot Games, which lists every gaming related company to have experienced layoffs this year.
This isn’t limited to big name publishers or developers; it also lists indie studios and the likes of Unity (responsible for the Unity game development engine) and Twitch, a popular source of video game livestreams.
Noor estimates that roughly 6,100 employees have lost their jobs in 2023, but it’s worth noting that not every company has provided hard figures for how many people were affected by job cuts. So, the real number is even higher.
You can view a rundown of the data for yourself over on videogamelayoffs.com, which reveals that, as far as known figures go, Unity has lost the most employees: 300 in January and then a further 600 in May, making for 900 in total.
Epic Games comes a close second though, having laid off roughly 16% of its total workforce after discovering it had ‘financial problems.’
Embracer Group, meanwhile, has issued the most rounds of layoffs in 2023. Following its big spending spree over the last couple of years, it has cut jobs across seven of its studios this year, with Campfire Cabal and Saints Row developer Volition being shut down completely.
There’s unlikely to be a singular explanation for all these job cuts, but a recent report did reveal that the industry isn’t making as much money from investments as it was during the days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most companies also increased staff numbers during the pandemic, as video games experienced a boom in popularity, and part of the current problem is things returning to normal.
It’s no wonder that unionisation efforts seem to be getting more popular within the industry. Over the weekend, staff at CD Projekt announced they had formed a union after 100 people lost their jobs at the company.
Around the same time, a representative from Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios told IGN that over 100 employees have agreed to join the Swedish trade union Unionen.
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