One-Third of U.S. Video Game Industry Workers Were Laid Off Over the Last Two Years

Comments

• tal@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I was about to say that I knew that COVID-19 caused video game sales to surge, and then crash, and there was over-hiring that had happened in response to those sales, but a third seems like an insanely high number.

  Looking at WP, it sounds like the surge was actually that high…but for mobile OS games, not PC, where the surge was much more muted. I also hadn’t realized that mobile OS video game game spending had become that much larger than PC spending.

  en.wikipedia.org/…/2022–2025_video_game_industry_…

  The first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a sharp increase in revenue for the gaming sector worldwide as people looked for indoor entertainment.[56] According to IDC, in 2020, revenue from mobile games climbed by 32.8% to $99.9 billion, while expenditure on digital PC and Mac games increased by 7.4% to $35.6 billion.[57] The amount spent on home console games increased significantly as well, reaching $42.9 billion, up 33.9%.[58][59]

  In the ensuing years, this growing pattern abruptly stopped.[60] Revenue growth from mobile gaming fell by 15% in 2021, and then fell even further in 2022 and 2023, to -3.3% and -3.1%, respectively. Sales of PC and Mac games saw a brief rise of 8.7% in 2021, a drop of 1.4% in 2022, and a rebound of 2.1% in 2023.[61] Similarly, after a surge in 2020, console game spending plateaued in 2021 with growth at 0.7%, followed by a decline of 3.4% in 2022, before returning to growth at 5.9% in 2023.[59][62]

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  • MurrayL@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Yep. PC players tend to be very outspoken, but they’re easily outnumbered by the console market, and the mobile market dwarfs them both.

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    • irate944@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      but they’re easily outnumbered by the console market

      I don’t think this is the case nowadays. I remember reading an article that PC market was outselling the console market.

      But yes, the mobile market is a giant

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• BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  For myself I will say I’ve never done so little gaming in my life. Partially it’s due to personal reasons but also a general depression in these dark times where I just don’t have the giveashits to play.

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• gustofwind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Serious question: why do I care about game Industry workers at AAA companies?

  Should I care about the programmers at Apple Microsoft and Google too?

  Should I feel bad that’s it’s harder to get a cushy corpo job?

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  • MurrayL@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    It’s hilarious that you think game development is a ‘cushy corpo job’.

    Ah yes, all those game devs famously enjoying competitive salaries and rock solid job security.

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  • 2FortGaming@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Would it be different if they were coal miners?

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• Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  As long as the least deserving in those companies still got their bonuses I 'm fine with that. /s

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• sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  That’s why there are no new games that are worthwhile lately

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  • breadguy@kbin.earth ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    there's so many games it's mental. it's impossible to keep up, my backlog is in the hundreds

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  • Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Save for indie bangers.

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    • sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Not that many of those either

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• irate944@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Anyone managed to download the report? Here it just says “report submitted” and then nothing happens. No emails no nothing.

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