For the gaming industry, March was a quieter month in terms of layoffs than January and February, but hundreds of people were still out of work. According to the Game Industry Layoffs portal, gaming companies laid off 628 employees last month.
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For comparison:
- The number of layoffs in January was 5,900 people;
- The number of layoffs in February was 2,027.
Compared with last year, there were two times fewer layoffs. According to Game Industry Layoffs, 1,305 game specialists lost their jobs in March 2023.
It should be noted that in reality the figures should be higher, since not all companies publicly talk about layoffs. Therefore, the extent of recent layoffs at Gearbox Entertainment, for example, is unknown.
Top 5 gaming companies with the largest number of laid-off employees in March:
1. SEGA — 301 people, 240 of them worked at SEGA Europe, Hardlight and Creative Assembly, and another 61 worked at SEGA of America;
2. Deviation Games — 50 people, the studio is closed;
3. Velan Studios — 46 people;
4. Smilegate Barcelona — 45 people, the studio is closed;
5. Something Wicked Games — 40 people.
Layoffs also took place at ZA/UM, Certain Affinity, FrogSong Studios, Spearhead Games, Happy Volcano, Eggnut Games and at least five other studios.