Layoffs aren’t a rarity in the gaming niche. At Player.com, we don’t blame the studios and executives. Yes, the issue of job security is still glaring, but game-making is extremely difficult. Funding is always an issue, which is why there’s a distinction between independent and AAA studios. Today, we’ll be discussing game studios and the job security they offer; Or rather, the lack thereof.
Also Related: Unity CEO John Riccitiello Is Stepping Down with Immediate Effect Following Controversial 2024 Business Model
The Issue of Keeping Track of Layoffs in the Industry
Many employees are forced to sign NDA documents concerning layoffs and the events that led up to them. So, the studios you hear about are the ones in which the previous employees reported their layoffs. To be frank, reviewers simply can’t keep up, especially as ex-employees from studios worldwide aren’t reporting any mass layoffs. True enough, the studios usually announce that they’re letting some employees go but there are countless unreported mass layoffs out there.
On the bright side, games like GTA 6 have leaked many details, such as Rockstar Games investing more than £1,000,000,000 in the title. Call us fanboys but it’s touted to be the game of the generation, just like its predecessor, GTA V. Though quite a few GTA games are great.
6 Studios Where Layoffs Are Prevalent
Studios shouldn’t lay off their employees without a proper reason. In most cases, they do have a proper reason, so this isn’t a critic’s review of the insecurity amongst gaming industry creators. Rather, this is a report of the five studios with the highest count of layoffs. We also included the reasons why the employees were laid off, so this is the perfect article for prospective workers in the video game industry. After all, many other fields will appreciate your coding, writing, or graphic design skills. However, not everybody is Cristiano Ronaldo.
#1: Electronic Arts
The news took the gaming industry and communities by storm. After all, EA is letting go of almost 1,000 employees in one of the biggest layoffs in history. That’s only around 6% of the studio’s workforce, but it’s still a sizable chunk, especially as it has games like Madden NFL, EA FC 24, and The Sims 3 sequel to worry about. CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned in a memo, “As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,” Wilson said in the memo”.
This was a shocking revelation, especially as the company just posted its three-month earnings, which were at least £1,500,000,000. EA said they wanted to cut down on the office space and extra hands on deck. In other words, the company doesn’t seem to be facing any financial crisis at the moment. It’s also alarming because CEO Wilson made at least £17,000,000,000 in 2022. So, the studio can afford the extra hands but on the bright side, it’ll save almost £120,000,000 annually.
#2: Unity
Unity is a video game engine and like EA, it has let go of around 600 employees, which is roughly 8% of the studio’s workforce. The studio said it’s restructuring teams to position itself for long-term growth. This is one of the biggest mass layoffs we’ve seen in the game industry. Moreover, it’s baffling to see Unity cutting off employees because the studio isn’t going through any financial crisis. We theorise that it’s trying to save money by cutting down on resources burned up annually.
In fact, the studio recently announced that it’s trying to cut down its number of offices worldwide from 58 to less than 30 in the coming years. However, the company is letting employees go gradually and not immediately. It’s not necessarily a better strategy than what we’ve seen in other studios but the strategy is ideal because they’re laying off more than 500 employees in a year. In the end, Unity will be left with around 7,000 workers worldwide.
#3: Relic Entertainment and Sega
Sega is the parent company of Relic Entertainment, which recently announced that it was laying off workers. Heck, they were specific about the number, announcing that they were laying off 121 employees in May 2023. Relic Entertainment said, “This came at a time when external factors are challenging our industry more than ever, and we made this decision to restructure our organisation to ensure maximum focus is placed on our core franchises”.
Sega mentioned nothing of external influences and Relic Entertainment is hinting that the decision wasn’t theirs to make. It makes us think they need those employees, but we needn’t go on a goose chase. Heck, Sega wrote in a statement that “Sega is in a healthy financial position and remains fully committed to supporting and investing in Relic Entertainment and the franchises it is responsible for, including the critically acclaimed Company of Heroes series”.
#4: Deck Nine | The Maker of “Life Is Strange: True Colors”
In the same month of May 2023, many employees were hit with layoffs that may have affected the studio’s workflow. Elizabeth Ballou, the narrative designer, mentioned, “The leads on my team were given swords and chose to fall on them, laying themselves off instead of choosing among the rest of us” Ballou continued. “I’ve never seen anyone in games do something that metal and I hope I never have to again”.
Ultimately, we received word from Deck Nine that they were forced to lay off around 30 employees. The studio didn’t release any statements concerning the reasons why it cut off employees. Deck Nine’s latest game is The Expanse: A Telltale Series. It wasn’t a masterpiece but its reviews are positive for the most part.
#5: The Molasses Flood
In The Molasses Flood, CD Projekt Red recently laid off 29 developers who were working on a spinoff for a Witcher game. A spokesperson said, “Because the project changed, so has the composition of the team that’s working on it – mainly on The Molasses Flood’s side”. The company’s rep also said, “The concrete number of employees we parted ways with is 21 team members in the U.S. and 8 in Poland (Working on the project outside of the U.S.)”.
So far, at least two environment artists, a manager, and a narrative designer have been laid off. An art producer, Caryn M. Boehm, recently revealed via a tweet, “In one week, I’ve finished my Masters in Media Management and been laid off from my dream job. I’m taking a few days to recover from the whiplash before fully updating my online presence”.
The problem is that the studio has laid off about half of the staff working at The Molasses Flood. For one, about 60 creators were working for the studio in 2022. Specifically, they were working on Project Sirius so we can only hope that this development won’t affect the quality of the final product. To that end, CD Projekt Red has forfeited more than £5,000,000, choosing to reboot the project.
#6: Deviation Games
Deviation Games reportedly laid off about 90 of their employees, after which their ex-workers went to Twitter to share that information. Some of the staff that were affected by this mass layoff are software engineer Kyle Perras, associate producer Jared Bailey, and technical artist Christopher Berry. It was described as a “Difficult situation” by Deviation Games, which is owned by former Call of Duty employees.
Moving forward, Christopher Berry posted on LinkedIn that, “A bunch of my colleagues and friends were laid off from Deviation Games today. If any recruiters have open positions, please consider hiring some of these wickedly
talented folks! If any recruiters or folks with open positions want to poke me, I’m happy to forward names/contact info to you.” His former colleagues also posted the ugly situation on LinkedIn so he’s not the only one affected. Sony and Deviation Games refuse to comment on this recent news.
The Top 3 Gaming Companies
The top three gaming companies in the world are Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, and they represent the earnings of Xbox, Nintendo software, and PlayStation Studios. When you go to a game store, these are the ones that the store manager will recommend. There are many gaming companies out there but these are the best. Some of the best games ever released by these three game makers are Halo, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Uncharted 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and God of War Ragnarok, which boast impressive powers. You can read more about those abilities here.
Our Final Say: Great Studios Announce Layoffs Ahead of Time
The studios with nice executives and capable executives lay off their employees gradually. This gives their ex-workers the time and space to find other jobs. However, there are many studios out there that won’t announce their plans and sometimes it comes as a shock to their workers. This isn’t ideal, especially in an industry where crunching is allegedly the norm. Job insecurity is real, especially in countries where employer-employee laws aren’t balanced. Ultimately, we can’t look at the world through tinted glass or with a jaded view because layoffs are complicated.