2023 alone saw the loss of an estimated 9,000 jobs within the industry, whilst 2024 is without exception. Most notably Epic Games, who are known for the hyper-successful Fortnite: Battle Royale, laid off 830 staff at the end of 2023. CEO Tim Sweeney recently spoke at Unreal Fest 2024, confirming that the company is now "financially sound," after, "rebuilding and executing solidly on all fronts". This saw an outpour of protest towards the decision, as many gamers claimed that in the process of getting their finances in order, Epic Games had impacted the lives of many hard working people.
Another huge story to break at the beginning of the year was an internal memo from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, confirming the layoffs of 1,900 people across Xbox and Activision Blizzard roughly three months after the ground breaking acquisition was finalised. In the memo, Spencer describes the decision as “a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our gaming business”. Fans often struggle to understand these type of decisions as it only furthers gamers negative opinions against corporate intervention in game development.
Around a similar time, EA announced a layoff of 5% of their workforce, equivalent to 670 staff. This resulted in Respawn Entertainment's much anticipated Star Wars first person shooter being cancelled, causing an outrage across the industry. In a statement EA claimed it will be “moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry”. Fans were confused by the decision as EA is one of the most successful publishers worldwide, due to the EA Sports division and the licensed IP it had already developed such as the Star Wars: Jedi series.
As studios rush development and encourage crunch culture in order to meet deadlines and expectations, they ultimately sabotage themselves.
These specific instances, which are only a handful of recent stories to break, highlight an even larger problem within the industry; the power and greed of shareholders and executives superseding the core values of the video game industry and the responsibility to protect employees during periods of financial struggle. As studios rush development and encourage crunch culture in order to meet deadlines and expectations, they ultimately sabotage themselves. Gamers have come to expect high standards from AAA games, which simply cannot be produced under the time constraints. This decreases sales and loyalty toward a franchise and can lead to financial woes for a studio. If developers were given more time and independence to produce a finished and polished experience rather than prioritising the need to line the already-riches pockets, then perhaps the industry could thrive at even greater heights financially and artistically.
