The scale of the past year of videogame layoffs is a hard thing to wrap your head around. We're confronted with more big numbers almost every week: the latest"regrettable" cuts made by this or that gaming company in the name of staying"agile and competitive.
One question we keep coming back to at PCG is how aberrant these layoffs are in games history, with the possibility that a combination of social media attention and increased scrutiny of industry labor practices has brought an issue that's always been this bad more to the forefront. While we don't have a statistical answer to that question, I was struck by formersound designer and industry veteran Michelle Hebert's testimony on the matter.
With thousands of developers now looking for work, new roles are difficult to come by. But there are also resources dedicated to help game developers find new jobs., Amir Satvat organizes volunteer mentorship and CV reviews in addition to constantly updating lists of laid off developers and job opportunities.Below we've included a number of responses from developers who were willing to share their stories with PC Gamer. All of them have been affected by layoffs in the last 12 months.
Helldivers 2 is the least I've felt pressured to spend money on a game in years, so of course I'm buying everything in the store