Commissar SFLUFAN Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 You can't talk about 2023 in games without talking about layoffs WWW.EUROGAMER.NET How is it that 2023 can have been one of the best years in memory for games but also one of the worst years in memory f… Quote How is it that 2023 can have been one of the best years in memory for games but also one of the worst years in memory for games, and for the gaming industry. I can't balance this equation - I've been trying all year and it gives me a headache. We should be talking about 2023 as one of the years that will go down in history for games, like 2007 did. We've had Baldur's Gate 3, Zelda 2 (Bertie that is not what it's called), Cocoon, Alan Wake 2, Banished Vault, and - genuinely - so many more. We've been giddy all year at Eurogamer at the relentless quality on show. We ought to be celebrating now during this end of year period, and we will celebrate. We can't do that alone, because there's another story we cannot ignore: layoffs. To give you an idea of how dominant the topic has been, I'm going to do something a little experimental. I've looked through Eurogamer and pulled out (nearly) all the stories we've written about layoffs during the year, and I'm going to list them all below. It's a long, long list but I need you to see it. I need to remind you how big the issue has been. Let's reconvene underneath. 15th Dec - Embracer layoffs hit 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks 14th Dec - Larian boss' TGA speech references new Wizards of the Coast layoffs 6th Dec: Jumplight Odyssey dev League of Geeks lays off half of team 6th Dec: TinyBuild closes internal studio Hakjak (Pigeon Simulator) 5th Dec: Embracer layoffs hit Insurgency dev New World Interactive 5th Dec: EA layoffs hit EA Sports WRC dev Codemasters 4th Dec: Fae Farm dev Phoenix Labs' has a second round of layoffs 28th Nov: Embracer layoffs hit Chorus dev Fishlabs 28th Nov: Embracer to close TimeSplitters dev Free Radical 16th Nov: Sega threatening unionised staff with layoffs early next year 16th Nov: Embracer says 900 employees were laid off in previous financial quarter 15th Nov: Humble Games announces layoffs 14th Nov: 505 Games parent company Digital Bros to lay off nearly a third of workforce 14th Nov: Amazon lays off 180 people from games division 10th Nov: Unity likely to announce layoffs early 2024 9th Nov: Warframe developer Digital Extremes confirms layoffs 7th Nov: Ubisoft layoffs hit Montreal VFX studio and global IT team 31st Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Bungie 24th Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Media Molecule 22nd Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Visual Arts 19th Oct: Embracer layoffs hit Pinball FX maker Zen Studios 17th Oct: Epic Games layoffs hit Bandcamp staff 17th Oct: Frontier layoffs as F1 Manager struggles 5th Oct: Telltale layoffs reportedly claim most of Wolf Among Us 2 team 5th Oct: EA ends contracts with/lays off Dragon Age QA testers who unionised 4th Oct: Amazon layoffs hit Twitch again 29th Sep: Epic Games layoffs hit Fall Guys developer Mediatonic 28th Sep: Epic Games laying off 900 employees 28th Sep: Sega cancels Hyenas, Creative Assembly faces layoffs as a result 25th Sep: Roblox lays off staff in hiring team 20th Sep: Embracer layoffs hit Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition developer Beamdog 20th Sep: Embracer layoffs hit Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics 15th Sep: Immortals of Aveum studio Ascendent lays off 40 employees after poor sales 23rd Aug: EA studio BioWare lays off 50 employees, including senior writers 2nd Aug: Callisto Protocol dev Striking Distance lays off 32 employees 26th Jul: Third round of CD Projekt Red layoffs 20th Jul: Activision Blizzard lays off 50 employees from eSports division 30th Jun: Daedelic closes Gollum studio, laying off 25 employees 29th Jun: Pokemon Go developer Niantic laying off 230 staff 27th Jun: Season developer Scavengers lays off half its studio 28th Jun: Layoffs at EA BioWare as SWTOR dev taken elsewhere 13th Jun: Embracer announces "comprehensive restructuring program" - layoffs will continue until March 2024 2nd Jun: EA guts mobile games studio Firemonkeys 1st Jun: CD Projekt Red layoffs as Gwent dev ended 31st May: Take-Two lays off 30 at Civilization developer Firaxis 23rd May: Sega lays off 121 at Company of Heroes developer Relic 20th May: Crypt of the Necrodancer dev Brace Yourself Games lays off half its staff 15th May: CD Projekt Red layoffs at Molasses Flood following Witcher spin-off reboot 14th May: Deviation Games reportedly lays off 90 staff from PlayStation-backed project 10th May: Ubisoft customer service lay-offs 3rd May: Third round of Unity layoffs to affect more than 600 jobs 20th Apr: Facebook/Meta layoffs hit Lone Echo developer Ready at Dawn 5th Apr: Amazon lays off 100 employees from games division 29th Mar: EA announces layoffs to six percent of company, or roughly 750 jobs 20th Mar: Amazon announces 9000 more layoffs, including 400 from Twitch 17th Mar: Layoffs reported at Team17 14th Mar: Facebook/Meta announces 10,000 layoffs as part of "year of efficiency" 7th Mar: Take-Two layoffs to affect Private Division publishing label 28th Feb: EA lays off 200-person Apex Legends QA team 20th Jan: Google to axe 12,000 jobs 19th Jan: Riot Games lays off 46 employees 18th Jan: Xbox owner Microsoft axes 10,000 jobs - Bethesda, Halo studio 343 Industries, and Gears of War developer The Coalition affected 19th Jan: Unity lays off nearly 300 staff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 If only there was a high profile end of year event with millions of views and articles about it that could have maybe made sure this topic wasn’t swept under the rug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vic20 Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 6 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said: If only there was a high profile end of year event with millions of views and articles about it that could have maybe made sure this topic wasn’t swept under the rug. Well they certainly proved you CAN talk about games without talking about layoffs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Just watch me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbsolutSurgen Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.