Last year was a great year for gamers when there were countless great games released, but it was a pretty sad year for the creators of those games. In total, more than 10,000 industry workers have been laid off by various companies, including Microsoft, Epic Games, BioWare, Bungie, Naughty Dog… Unfortunately, it seems this sad trend will continue. continues in 2024, with the opening shot of Unity when preparing to lay off 1,800 employees at the end of March. Immediately afterward, the company broadcast online Twitch owned by Amazon is also preparing to follow its predecessor, as it is about to lay off 500 employees, equivalent to about 35% of the company’s workforce.
These layoffs follow two rounds of layoffs that Twitch instituted last year. According to Bloomberg, the layoffs will probably be officially announced today. As for the reason, according to Twitch, maintaining the platform is extremely expensive and the company has struggled to come up with the financial resources to support billions of hours of live streamed content.
Just last year, Twitch’s chief revenue officer, chief content officer, chief customer officer, and chief product officer left the company. Additionally, in December, Twitch also announced it would end its service in Korea. And, according to Bloomberg, Twitch has made efforts to increase advertising in recent years, but despite those efforts, it remains unprofitable.
2024 is only in its first days, but already up to 2,300 employees in the gaming industry are about to lose their jobs. These numbers contribute to the gaming industry’s growing list of layoffs, directly affecting developers and neighboring industries.
In January last year, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees as part of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was completed in October.
Striking Distance Studios, the team behind 2022’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off more than 30 employees in August 2023. That same month, Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 employees, including longtime employees in the studio. The following month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off about 45% of its staff, and Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off 830 employees.
In October, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog laid off at least 25 employees and Telltale Games also laid off, but has not disclosed specific numbers. Dreams developer Media Molecule laid off 20 employees at the end of October.
In November, Amazon Games laid off 180 employees, Ubisoft laid off more than 100 employees, Bungie laid off about 100 developers, and 505 Games’ parent company, Digital Bros, laid off 30% of its staff.
In December, Embracer Group closed its TimeSplitters and Free Radical Design studios. By the beginning of this year, this group continued to close down Saints Row developer Volition Games, a studio with more than 30 years of development history. A few weeks before winter break, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro also laid off 1,100 employees.
The increasingly strong development of AI technology certainly contributes significantly to these layoff decisions, in addition to other economic reasons. Is it true that the gloomy scenario once drawn in fantasy movies and games is about to become a reality?
