In January 2024, gaming companies laid off 6,000 people

The year 2024 began for the gaming industry with new large-scale cuts. Layoffs have already taken place in dozens of companies. According to rough estimates, more people lost their jobs in January alone than in the last half of 2023.

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According to the Game Industry Layoffs portal, in January, gaming companies conducted a total of 30 rounds of layoffs, during which they parted with 5,900 specialists. For comparison, in January 2023, there were eight times fewer people laid off - 726 people. A total of 10,466 people were out of work last year.

The number of dismissed gaming specialists in 2023, broken down by month (Game Industry Layoffs)

The Kotaku publication, which also monitors the situation with layoffs, names another — large — figure. According to his calculations, this January, gaming companies laid off 6,194 people. In their statistics, Kotaku journalists took into account a number of companies that, for one reason or another, missed Game Industry Layoffs. For example, they added layoffs to Discord statistics.

Top 10 companies with the largest number of laid-off employees in January:

1. Microsoft* — 1900 people;
2. Unity — 1800 people;
3. Riot Games — 530 people;
4. Twitch — 500 people;
5. Playtika — about 300-400 people.
6. Embracer Group** — 300 people;
7. Discord — 170 people;
8. Thunderful Group — about 75-100 people;
9. NCsoft — 70 people;
10. Metaverse World — 70 people.

So far, February has been calmer for game developers. To date, it is known about layoffs in three studios: Threats (25 people, the studio has closed), Chimera Entertainment (20 people) and Crop Circle Games (at least 13 people). The media also reports that by March 8, Sega of America is going to lay off 61 employees.

*Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media.

**300 people were fired from Embracer Group subsidiaries such as Eidos Montreal, Lost Boys Interactive, Black Forest Games and Nimble Giant Entertainment.