SAN FRANCISCO: The video game industry saw several rounds of layoffs in 2023, affecting at least 9,000 employees globally.
In September, Fortnite game developer Epic Games announced to lay off 16 per cent of its employees, impacting nearly 870 people. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney sent an email to Epic employees, saying the company is laying off around 16 per cent of Epic staff.
“We’ve been spending way more money than we earn. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic,” Sweeney said.
In November, French video game company Ubisoft, which published popular franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, laid off about 124 employees as part of a corporate restructuring and reorganisation effort.
Embracer Group has made headlines for its numerous purchases of gaming studios, media companies, and the IP rights to The Lord of the Rings.
This year, the company made massive restructuring but in the aftermath of its failed investment strategy, it shut down three studios, cancelled several projects and laid off over 900 employees, reports The Verge.
Gaming company Hasbro laid off 1,000 employees, including most of the team that worked on Baldur’s Gate 3 with Larian Studios.
EA laid off 6 per cent of its workforce or around 780 people.
Other gaming companies like BioWare, Microsoft, Bungie, Naughty Dog,, Amazon, CD Projekt Red, Sega, Unity, and Activision Blizzard were all hit this year.