Steve B.’s Post

Considering the rampant and persistent massive layoffs, do you think it is worth applying to video game studio roles in the industry's current state? Or would it be a better use of a Game Developer's time to build their own studio, with the intent to provide jobs to others in the future? Building a company is always a risk, but are we at the point where the risk outweighs the long wait and slim chance of finding a role from an existing employer? I'd like to hear your thoughts from your circumstances and place in the industry.

I'm hearing a lot about video game industry layoffs. There are fewer jobs to go around in less companies than before. Layoffs in any industry are the worst. Especially when you know it's because the company's overplayed their hands and it's the cogs who got them there that end up suffering the most. What I haven't heard is how there are a bunch of extremely talented game gurus who now all have the opportunity to compete against the companies that treated them this way. Reach out to your fellow designers, programmers, etc. Let's see an uptick in new studios coming out of this. Build the games you wanted but would never have been allowed. Revolutionize how your game handles monetizing and equity. (God knows the industry could use some fresh perspective in this world of overpriced microtransactions - yeah I said it, they're hardly micro.) You have the skills, you have the power. Use their shortcomings as your uprising. Maybe they'll learn an important lesson if you're willing to teach it to them. I believe in you!

Can we take a moment to just say how awesome each and every person in the game industry is? With all these layoffs happening that put the companies value over the value of the employees, each one of you has shown some kind of resolve to never give up. That takes a lot. It's so easy to want to give up when something you wanted so bad was in reach and then disappeared. If there's a developer that truly inspires you or has shown kindness from the bottom of their heart, please mention them here. We need more positivity in life and you are enough. I'd love to start the cycle by talking about the recruiters that go well and beyond for these studios: Justin Williams, who's kindness knows no bounds. His encouragement, willingness to help others, and overall amazing demeanor speaks volumes. Chris Tran, a person of his word that does his best to help others in the gaming industry. #1 in everyone's heart. Christina-Marie Drake, who's amazing heart shows through with every interaction she has. She's been a strong leader in the industry and is priceless. These 3 are just a few of many who have such an influence in my life.

Estimates for the gaming industry layoffs are 10,000+ now which is false information due to poor communication from upper-level elites with the masses. Prepare for **EXTREME** wealth inequality. Inefficiency. And more layoffs than you ever imagined. *Signed Upper management

Can't keep track of all the layoffs? Me neither, but I stumbled on this site. https://lnkd.in/grWA8tnP (If the letters are too small to read, open the picture in another tab or save it and zoom in) Amir Satvat mentioned 5700 people were laid off, and this spreadsheet's metrics seem to be accurate. Not to mention it has full pie charts and bar graphs for 2022 and 2023. There's a mix of articles and personal posts, so the numbers aren't 100% accurate, but a damn good estimate. If the numbers are correct, there's been at least 26,000 layoffs in the video game industry If you want to know a little more about the archive and its creator, take a look at this: https://lnkd.in/gKFJAj8x

Almost 20,000 layoffs in the Games industry in the past 18 months and many more to come. The truth is a lot of the studio bloat that preceeded this was due to companies trying to up their ‘sale value’ by employing more staff. However the overhead of a large PAYE roll is the single largest cost offsetting any income made from sales. Perhaps it is the sharded share ownership of bigger companies where every 1% owner wants a retirement fund out of a company sale that has angled many companies towards bigger valuation and therefore a bigger team to achieve this. But in the games business it is your product IP that always holds the value, every office, piece of office equipment and member of staff you have to pay for is an overhead reducing profit. It is for this reason that reducing excess staff numbers is a painful but necessary step to protect core staff numbers until the investment money starts to flow again. Also it is a warning that having a horde of small shareholders pushing to maximise their investment in a company comes at the price of pushing and commiting to a limited variety of company structures, even if the prevailing business climate shows those strategies to be highly risky. The trick is to either suck up the guilt and lay people off when the going gets tough, or to keep the team as trim as possible and resist the urge to grow it too quickly just because you can.

A while ago I posted a piece on what I see as the far too little discussed factors behind game industry layoffs. At least compared to their outsized influence. In there I also go into why unionization is a positive but not sufficient step to smooth out the intrinsic volatility of the industry (which the current layoffs are only a bad flare up of, not the cause). Part 2/5 of Why Layoffs Actually Happen is now up and it deals with the split identity between PC/Console markets and mobile and how and why even though everyone talks about them like they are the same market they are very different with very little homogeneity or continuity between them. The dominant models and systems in the industry need to change with stakes shifted more to a counterbalancing monopoly of creative talent. We’ll see how and why in Part 3 of Why Unionization is Not Enough where we finally take on the industry Cerberus: how tech and user acquisition monopolies like Microsoft and Steam prevent competitive advantage in accruing to creative talent and maintain a tight grip on the industry both on demand side (UA) and supply (tech and IP). 🐿 To read subscribe to my game economics newsletter Intrinsic Economies along with 200+ game CEOs, investors, founders and designers. 🌰 Or follow me and hit the bell for hard won insights about the changing economics of games and the game industry. #gameindustry #layoffs #gamingnews #gaming #freetoplay

I’ve been hearing about layoffs in gaming industry almost every day. It’s truly heartbreaking to see it.😔 I was thinking a lot about possible reasons behind this.  According to industry stats, video gaming revenue continues to grow, and people are still actively buying new consoles and video games. So, what’s the problem can be exactly? -One possible explanation can be that companies over-hired during the COVID, as gaming industry experienced unexpected growth during that time. It appears that things are gradually getting back to normal right now. -Global Macroeconomic conditions play a huge role too, government spendings in the last period of pandemic and geopolitical instability affected the global economics and consequently hit gaming companies too. As money is no longer cheap now, companies are making cutbacks. -Its possible that Investors/shareholders in gaming companies are feeling generally very nervous about potentially bearing the brunt of a recession if it were to hit the industry. Many other factors could be at play as well. Whatever’s going on right now, it’s also obvious it hasn’t stopped new studios from emerging. I really hope gaming industry will find its balance soon again. 💖 To everyone who was affected by layoffs, wish you best of luck, stay strong!🌟 I'd love to hear from you as well what you think are the main reasons behind these massive layoffs we've seen recently? #videogameindustry #layoffs

So with the amount of layoffs in games, its created a large bed of variables to look at.. yeah I'm not a scientist but trying my best to sound smart. Recent lunch with some friends out of work in games, had an interesting convo. All 3 of them are artist and they all applied to the same position at a company. They had found out after they applied they all were in competition and luckily they were in friendly spirits about it. Anyways, two of them got interviews. In the initial talks with the recruiter/hiring manager they were given a salary range. Only two of them got that far in conversation. Of those two, the range was different even though they had similar experience. They compared the responses they got and it was really odd how they were different, same person but different attitude in the way they were replying to them. Also in the interviews, the duties and role was slightly different, like the one with the lower pay range was basically being given a heavier responsibility description. Same interviewer too so a bit odd perhaps how the convo changed per person. The 3rd person, they were being notified once a week or so about progress and to don't worry, we'll get in touch soon with more info. Well.. at the end, none of them got the job, or feedback of why. The 3rd person just got ghosted without an update or reply asking for an update. I feel for them, hence giving them a lunch to vent, its stressful as all heck to interview, not wanting to put all your hope into a job that could or could not happen. And then to see that there are differences and inconsistency on the whole process. Some might actually say the 3rd person had it the best since they never got their hopes set too high but at the same time the ego can take a hit on not being asked to talk. Thoughts, anyone currently interviewing/looking for a job have some experiences to share?