Key Takeaways
- Over 10,000 layoffs hit the gaming industry in 2023, with over 11,500 more by July 2024.
- Huge development costs drive layoffs.
- Former PlayStation boss Chris Deering suggests layoffs aren’t brought on by greed and laid-off staff “drive an Uber” or “go to the beach.”
2023 was a foul yr for video game layoffs. 2024 is way worse. Last yr, greater than 10,000 employees within the games industry lost their jobs, and this yr, by July, an estimated 11,500 people have already been let go.
It is a plague within the space, brought on by a combination of unrealistic development cycles and the necessity for lines on a graph to be consistently rising.
Nevertheless, a former PlayStation boss has denied that the 1000’s of layoffs have been brought on by corporate greed, and has said that those laid off should “drive an Uber or whatever,” or “find an inexpensive place to live and go to the beach for a yr.”
Speaking on Simon Parkin’s My Perfect Console Podcast, former Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Chris Deering had his say on the innumerable redundancies which have affected the lives of tens of 1000’s of individuals.
Deering, who played a serious role in the discharge and subsequent marketing of the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2, said, “I do not think it’s fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed,” adding, “If the cash is not coming in from the consumers on the last game, it will be hard to justify spending money on the following game.”
He goes on to say that he doesn’t think that “having a skill on this area goes to be a lifetime of poverty or limitation. It’s still where the motion is.” Nevertheless, Deering follows this up by saying, “You are going to should work out tips on how to get through it. Drive an Uber or whatever. Find an inexpensive place to live and go to the beach for a yr.”
The comments by Deering are particularly tone-deaf provided that Sony themselves have been one among the worst culprits for layoffs in 2024. Earlier this yr, the corporate laid off 900 employees, or six percent of its workforce, shuttering London Studio in the method. This was followed up by an additional 220 people being let go by Sony-owned Bungie, while CEO Pete Parsons kept his collection of classic cars.
Deering does share that he’s optimistic in regards to the way forward for games and that the industry moves in cycles; nevertheless, it’s hard to feel that way when so many persons are out of labor and are competing for such a small pool of jobs.
