There is no doubt that the gaming industry has gone through a massive transformation over the past few years. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people explored video games in order to kill time, this led to a massive surge in the number of new players. However, some people are convinced that the alarming number of layoffs in the industry could lead to a collapse.
In 2024 alone, roughly 7000 people in the gaming industry lost their jobs, in fact, Blizzard’s president Mike Ybarra also quit. With Microsoft removing 1900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox in January, PlayStation has also decided to lay off 900 staff members. This means that many games that were in development will also get canceled.
PlayStation removed about 900 of its staff members after Microsoft
In a recent blog post, Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan announced that they got rid of about 8% of its workforce around the globe as they gear up for the future,
“We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes – Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted.”
This comes just one month after Microsoft removed 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. As per CharlieIntel, roughly 7,000 people in the gaming industry lost their jobs in the first two months of 2024. These major layoffs led to the cancellation of many in-development games, and now, fans are wondering if the end of the gaming industry is near.
Is this the end of the $272 billion gaming industry?
As per Mordor Intelligence, the gaming industry’s market size as of 2024 is roughly $272 billion and this number is expected to double by 2029, however, the current trends in the industry concern a lot of fans. Despite the industry expanding, some fans feel like popular gaming studios rehash and re-release the same video game every year. Many highly anticipated games feel like a cash grab.
On top of this, the major cut in the staff is also concerning, particularly for e-sports fans as Activision Blizzard laid off 83% of its staff from its eSports division. This news alone left the fans questioning the future of Call of Duty League. The gaming industry is indeed transforming drastically, from the eradication of physical copies of video games to pay-to-win strategies, but there are still some exceptional games out there that have retained the true experience of video games.
