I don’t think there’s been a single month in the last two years where I haven’t seen some massive game studio lay off hundreds of workers. It’s almost a joke at this point, except there’s nothing funny about it. Every single major publisher—Microsoft, Sony, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Epic—has fired thousands of people.
And yet, these companies are still raking in record-breaking profits.
So where’s the money going? If gaming is making more money than ever, if games are more expensive than ever, if microtransactions and battle passes and DLC are making publishers richer than they’ve ever been—why does it seem like no one’s job is safe?
Because gaming isn’t about making games anymore. It’s about making investors happy.
The Layoff Death Spiral
Here’s how it works.
A publisher announces a huge new game. Something ambitious, something massive, something that takes hundreds, even thousands of people to make. They ramp up hiring, pour money into development, and spend five to ten years building something incredible.
Then the game ships.
And the second it’s out the door? Layoffs.
Because publishers don’t actually want to employ these people long-term. They don’t care about keeping studios stable. They don’t care about fostering creative talent. They just hire up when they need it, fire everyone when they don’t, and repeat the cycle.
It doesn’t even matter if the game is successful.
- Call of Duty still sells millions? Layoffs.
- Fortnite still prints money? Layoffs.
- Microsoft acquires Activision for $69 billion? Almost 2,000 people fired.
Because in the eyes of these companies, it’s never enough. No matter how much money a game makes, it could always be more. And the easiest way to make sure those quarterly earnings look good? Fire workers, cut costs, maximize profit.
Why Is This Happening?
The biggest reason: game companies are being run like tech startups now.
For the last decade, gaming has been on a hiring spree. More games, bigger budgets, higher production values, more people. But the industry didn’t expand responsibly—it inflated like a tech bubble, throwing money at every new trend without thinking about what would happen when that bubble burst.
And now, investors want returns.
Games take years to make. Publishers don’t want to carry that cost for years. They want short-term profits now. And when that doesn’t happen, they start cutting people loose.
The Bullshit Excuses Publishers Keep Using
Every time layoffs happen, we hear the same corporate nonsense.
- “We hired too aggressively.” (No, you didn’t. You just refuse to plan for the long term.)
- “We need to be more agile.” (Translation: We need to make sure executives keep their bonuses.)
- “The market is shifting.” (Into what? Because I don’t see a single company using these savings to actually innovate.)
Let’s be clear—these companies are not struggling.
Microsoft can afford to buy Activision for $69 billion but can’t afford to keep its workers?
Sony is pulling in $30 billion a year, but somehow has to fire people?
Epic Games spent hundreds of millions on the Fortnite metaverse but still laid off 900 employees?
It’s not about survival. It’s about making shareholders happy.
The People Who Actually Make Games Are Treated Like Disposable Trash
This is the part that pisses me off the most.
The people getting laid off aren’t the ones making the bad decisions. They’re not the ones forcing live service nonsense into single-player franchises. They’re not the ones greenlighting NFT marketplaces nobody asked for. They’re the artists, the designers, the developers—the people actually making the games we love.
And they’re being burned out and thrown away while executives keep making millions.
- Bobby Kotick walked away from Activision Blizzard with $400 million in his pocket.
- Andrew Wilson, EA’s CEO, made over $20 million last year.
- The CEO of Take-Two (the company that owns Rockstar) made $72 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, the actual developers? The ones who spent years crunching to get these games out the door? They’re left scrambling for new jobs in an industry that has no stability anymore.
What Happens Next?
This isn’t sustainable. You can’t keep gutting the workforce, rushing games out, slashing costs, and expecting the industry to keep growing.
At some point, something has to give.
- Either gaming crashes completely under its own greed…
- Or indie studios and ex-AAA devs take over and rebuild the industry from the ground up.
Because people still love video games. They still want great games. And the devs who actually care about making them? They’re leaving big publishers and going indie.
And honestly? That might be the best thing that could happen to gaming.