2023’s Dumpster Fire Moment – Layoffs
Tom: Game industry layoffs are no surprise, especially to me since I worked developer side for much of my 20s and 30s, which means I spent every 6-12 months throwing all my crap in my car and moving across the country, but never has it been more apparent that video games are an intensely profitable industry for like 10 people and an intensely cutthroat industry for everyone that actually makes them. Don’t worry, though, free snacks and sodas in the breakroom and mandatory attendance at the drinks on Fridays will more than make up for the nomadic lifestyle taking you through a circuit of 3-5 of the most expensive cities in the country. On the other hand, you could get to work on lots of very cool titles and then not get credited on them because you got laid off before they shipped so one of those 10 people could get a bonus.
Diego: Kill all the CEOs who won’t cut their own salary.
Spencer: Do you ever feel like the industry is headed for a disaster but you’re strapped in, and it’s too late to change anything? I think about that a lot.
Austin: It has been a really rough year for layoffs across all industries, but it seems especially egregious within the tech and gaming world. 2024 hasn’t done much to correct this trend, but I really hope that this starts to recover and heal instead of descending into more darkness. Everyone deserves to make a livable wage, ideally doing something they enjoy, or at the very least a workplace environment that they don’t hate.
Nick: Because we’re publishing this a month into 2024, it could’ve easily gone in the ‘most anticipated’ category. The layoff number has eclipsed 2023’s number already. I hope you’re ready for an even bigger shit show this year.
