Layoffs to cost 100,000 years of collective games industry experience

• Layoffs between 2022 and the end of 2025 will cost the sector 100,000 years of games experience.
• Members of the industry are leaving the field and moving on.

Layoffs across the games industry will see the sector lose 100,000 years’ worth of collective experience by the end of 2025.

That’s according to games business exec and jobs expert Amir Satvat, who has spent recent years helping those affected by layoffs find new work via LinkedIn.

He shared his findings in a recent post on the platform, noting that the figure only accounts for layoffs between 2022 and 2025. It considers the loss of experienced members of the games industry who have now left the field, plus Satvat’s prediction for the layoffs still to come in the second half of this year.

Putting that collective 100,000 years’ experience into context, this is the equivalent of 40 full studios, each employing 500 people with an average of five years’ experience in the games industry.

"And it gets crazier when you look closer," he said.

"I never share specifics, to protect our members, but it’s unbelievable how many nearly complete teams, how many key leaders from top franchises, are just out there. From the biggest companies. Sitting on the sidelines."

Opportunities ahead?

Satvat’s post has followed weeks after Microsoft’s mass layoffs, which included a studio closure, cancelled games and a questionable future for Xbox.

However, the loss of so many veterans from across the games sector has also sparked some positive thinking, like the idea that the thousands of people impacted by layoffs could potentially come together to start new studios.

Satvat’s stance is bleaker, considering the context of a "brutally tight" financing climate.

"People always say, think of all the studios they could make. Or the indies. Or the spin-outs. And yes, that sounds great. But the financing is brutally tight. And many of these folks are high-cost senior talent that studios are hesitant to pick up. So instead, they sit. Or move on. Or wait," he explained.

"It’s just nuts."

This difficulty was recently highlighted by Improbable co-founder Herman Narula, who spoke with us about venture capitalists’ "screw Europe, screw Britain" attitude in the current climate especially. His metaverse company is trying to counter this, supporting companies in the UK and Europe with up to $5 million investments.