The human cost

Layoffs are the most recent problem to plague the video game industry, but they intersect with previous issues including crunch (where people work overtime, usually unpaid, in the lead up to a release or even post-release to fix bugs), exploiting passion for profit, a lack of diversity, and sexism and harrassment at companies and industry events.

Employees afraid of losing their jobs may work longer unpaid hours in a bid to show their value to the company. A gameindustry.biz article reported in Sept, 2023, that a quarter devs surveyed reported working more than 41 hours a week, with the longest reported average being 95 hours a week.

In the wake of Black Lives Matter in 2022, companies made a show of diversity and inclusion efforts, ramping up hiring and creating councils to promote cultures of belonging for their employees. Axios reports that the video game industry has been slow to hire Black developers, and in another article reports that a disproportionate percentage of the workers laid off since last fall appear to be women.

Meanwhile, this year Riot Games compensated 1,548 women for gender discrimination, and former Ubisoft executives including Serge Hascoët and Tommy François were arrested in connection with a sexual harrassment investigation by French Police.

These issues compound the challenges for those wanting to stay in the industry post-layoff, or for those wanting to enter the industry for the first time. Nicole Carpenter reported in an article for Polygon that:

“Other developers told Polygon they've submitted dozens to hundreds of applications since getting laid off; applying for work is a full-time job. So many of these job applications go unanswered, while a lucky few get pulled into second- and third-round interviews. Several of the people Polygon spoke to have found new jobs, but the majority are still looking, and they expect to be continuing to apply into next year as hiring slows down for the holidays. One developer told Polygon that they've never been looking for a job at the same time as so many of their friends before.”