Marketing expert Raj Patel has calculated that since the beginning of the year, gaming companies have announced layoffs of nearly 17,000 people. This number significantly exceeds the figures from the past several years.
Layoffs in the gaming industry from 2021 to 2024, according to Patel's data
Here’s how many gaming specialists, according to Patel, lost their jobs due to mass layoffs:
- in 2024 — 16,766 people;
- in 2023 — 8,706 people;
- in 2022 — 7,949 people;
- in 2021 — 567 people.
Patel noted that in 33% of the announcements made over the past four years, companies did not disclose the number of employees laid off. Therefore, the actual number of people who lost their jobs should be much higher.
As Patel discovered, from January 2021 to December 2024, the largest layoffs were conducted by Microsoft (4,758 people), Unity (3,115 people), Electronic Arts (2,043 people), Perfect World (2,000 people), and Sony (1,767 people).
It should be noted that Patel's data differs from that of the Game Industry Layoffs portal, which also tracks the situation in the industry. According to the latter, gaming companies laid off 8,549 people in 2022, 10,466 people in 2023, and 14,651 people in 2024.
There are still a few weeks left until the end of 2024. It is quite likely that by December 31st, the numbers will grow even larger. Just today, there have been three news items about layoffs: at Ubisoft, Torn Banner Studios, and Sweet Bandits Studios, with the latter studio closing down.