The video game industry is a relatively new market but, it is the highest grossing market where in 2013 it produced a revenue of over 76 billion dollars (Galarneau, 2014). And despite the amount of money the video game industry makes it is regularly a victim to downsizing and layoffs. In the article “Why Game Developers Keep Getting Laid off” written by Jason Schreier, it highlights various aspects of this re-occurring problem, provides many testimonials from developers who have had to face this problem, as well as providing examples where steps are being taken in order to avoid this problem or help those who are being laid off.

Being laid off from your job is already a highly stress inducing situation but being laid off from a video game company, a job where people are passionate about the creative media industry and actively want to work on creating and developing games, is even more disheartening. The article begins by presenting various examples of studios and publishers having to resort to reducing their staff or shutting their studios down completely. With small studios to massive development studios and publishers like Irrational Games and EA or Activision (Schreier, 2014). This really shows how volatile the video game industry is and how no company is safe, irrespective of size and value the company holds. Throughout the article many testimonials are provided from people who were involved in a layoff/restructuring. “Layoffs are more than just losing a job; they’re gaining a mountain of uncertainty, stress and financial concerns” (Schreier, 2014). Many other testimonials go in depth into what goes on in their minds, how they cope with the news, as well as explaining the effects it has on the individual, their families and the industry. Clearly the developers who lose their jobs don’t benefit from this situation and those that do remain in the studio might not feel as motivated in providing the best work they can, if studios cut down on employees so frequently. The reason as to why this is such a common occurrence is explained in the article. Most studios either cycle through different projects in order to keep their employees actively working or in some cases have multiple projects in development simultaneously (Schreier, 2014). Problems arise when cycling through the projects doesn’t work correctly, projects are cancelled or delayed, or a finished product does not meet financial expectations, among other reasons. And even in indie studios poor planning or not having a successful game can lead to shutting down the studio. In some cases studios ramp up on staff to grind through the work when realistically, that studio is only capable of affording a portion of those actively working. The reason behind this increase in staff is to create a finished product before the deadline.

Although having job security in the video game industry is uncommon. Publishers like EA do try and help those that they are laying off. By helping those former employees find a job in other studios. And when the layoffs hit Irrational Games a big job fair was held where recruiters would search for new talent for their own studios (Schreier, 2014). Although these attempts at easing the unemployment stage are helpful some ex-developers have resorted to working in other fields all together because they had better job security and were paid more for less work.

In the field of video game development where a lot of passion, time and money is invested, it is discouraging to see layoffs as such a common occurrence and it would be much more uplifting if these stories would become rare and a new approach is taken by the industry to protect its workers. And overall provide a new way to more safely develop and sell games.

References

Schreier, Jason. (5 June 2014). http://kotaku.com/why-game-developers-keep-getting-laid-off-1583192249

Galarneau, Lisa. (16 January 2014). http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2014-global-gaming-stats-whos-playing-what-and-why/