Video game company layoffs are creating an industry crisis, women disproportionately affected

[Iucounu]

https://www.polygon.com/23964448/video-game-industry-layoffs-crisis-2023

This has been one of the worst years for workers in a long, long time. (Polygon interviewed more than a dozen game developers for this story.) Unofficial trackers suggest more than 7,000 video game workers have been laid off in 2023; for comparison, another community-driven list suggested there were roughly 1,000 in 2022.

“Paired with tight economic conditions, the impact of layoffs has been amplified by reduced hiring and increased job competition,” said International Game Developers Association executive director Dr. Jakin Vela in an interview with Polygon. “This has been one of the most volatile periods in the games industry in the last 15 years.”

“Many factors have contributed to the significant amount of layoffs developers have faced in 2023,” Vela said. “For example, large investments in games in 2021 and 2022 encouraged expansion at an accelerated yet unsustainable rate.”

Aubrey Quinn, senior vice president of communications for the Entertainment Software Association, agreed: The industry expanded in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding up to be worth $56.6 billion in 2022, she said. That’s a level of growth that no other entertainment industry has matched. “What we’re seeing now is that the market is stabilizing,” Quinn added.

https://www.axios.com/2023/07/06/tech-layoffs-2023-female-workers

The tech industry skews male, but tech layoffs paint a different picture: A disproportionate percentage of the workers laid off since last fall appear to be women.

Why it matters: There are fears that the Big Tech layoffs that rocked the industry may set back its yearslong push to diversify.

Tech layoffs were less "tech-y" than you might realize, hitting hardest the parts of these companies that are typically more female-dominated — like human resources, recruiting and marketing.

Almost half of HR people and recruiters were laid off in tech, compared to 10% of engineers and 4% of salespeople, found a separate analysis of Layoffs.fyi data.

These are the teams (they're usually smaller) that are typically first to get cut in a round of layoffs since they're viewed as less essential.
Meanwhile, tech companies have also pared back their diversity, equity and inclusion staff.

 

[d1r]

 

[Chuck Norris]

The problem with this is that game companies present gigs as a job and a career. And the reason they do this is because game industry doesn't have a center in the way movie industry does (Hollywood). So game developers are spread all over the place and they wouldn't be inclined to move around the map for the sake of a gig.

The idea of working in the game industry is based on a lie: that this is a job. It isn't. It's a gig. If you accept that, all these horrible lay-off statistics make more sense.

 

[Hellraiser]

They should have learned to code.

 

[Iucounu]

The problem with this is that game companies present gigs as a job and a career. And the reason they do this is because game industry doesn't have a center in the way movie industry does (Hollywood). So game developers are spread all over the place and they wouldn't be inclined to move around the map for the sake of a gig.

The idea of working in the game industry is based on a lie: that this is a job. It isn't. It's a gig. If you accept that, all these horrible lay-off statistics make more sense.

True, but it seems layoffs now are greater than the usual rotation after an individual game is finished. Some of these surplus developers may have to leave the industry permanently.

Also I wouldn't call HR a gig (unlike game development); rather, their firing seems like Woke is out of fashion.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Also I wouldn't call HR a gig (unlike game development); rather, their firing seems like Woke is out of fashion.

with esg and sweet baby being a thing?
nah

 

[La vie sexuelle]

This may be more important than you think.

Current model of the world that has been built since 2012, where SJWs create a propaganda envelope that protects big capital from the consequences of economic stratification, the disintegration of Western democracies, a crisis of values and ethnic frictions, is beginning to fall apart. It started it with games, and now games will herald the end of them.

 

[karoliner]

Fake jobs, fake economy, fake money...

 

[PsihoKekec]

Useless hanger-ons are getting the axe? We truly are entering some dark times.

 

[Mise]

How will this affect all the upcoming games with a strong black female lead???

 

[Elttharion]

Tech layoffs were less "tech-y" than you might realize, hitting hardest the parts of these companies that are typically more female-dominated — like human resources, recruiting and marketing.

I cant believe someone wrote this as if its some kind of revelation. Marketing always gets cut first and usually outsourced since its vastly cheaper to do so. If you are laying off people why the fuck would you need recruiters? If you will cut jobs you need less people tard wrangling and human resources were insanely bloated in every company I worked in the last 10-15 years. When I started working we were almost 300 people in a factory and HR was only one chill dude who had worked there for almost 30 years at that point.

They will always cut things that are only tangential to the company work and can be easily replaced. Its not rocket science.

 

[Iucounu]

Tech layoffs were less "tech-y" than you might realize, hitting hardest the parts of these companies that are typically more female-dominated — like human resources, recruiting and marketing.

I cant believe someone wrote this as if its some kind of revelation. Marketing always gets cut first and usually outsourced since its vastly cheaper to do so. If you are laying off people why the fuck would you need recruiters? If you will cut jobs you need less people tard wrangling and human resources were insanely bloated in every company I worked in the last 10-15 years. When I started working we were almost 300 people in a factory and HR was only one chill dude who had worked there for almost 30 years at that point.

They will always cut things that are only tangential to the company work and can be easily replaced. Its not rocket science.

Makes sense, and in that case maybe the marketing layoffs don't meant Woke is dead, but just that the industry has grown too much.

But do HR normally get fired as well when companies downsize? Like you mentioned, those have become bloated over the years.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

 

[Hellraiser]

Durkadurka is behind the times, now soldering wires to cellphones is in vogue, her brothers in faith no longer use clocks for the cause, inshallah.

 

[Cologno]

Yeah, good summation. The acronym is the States for this is "Diversity, equity, and inclusion". DEI. I've seen a few break room agitprop posters graffitied with "DIE DEI DIE!".

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Makes sense, and in that case maybe the marketing layoffs don't meant Woke is dead, but just that the industry has grown too much.

Propaganda won't stop until it's forced to stop by reality. The industry isn't any where close to crashing despite how badly it should be. Mass market doesn't give a fuck and never will as long as it's a circus. Look how well the Spiderman games are doing for some unknown reason. Being Spidermans fun and all but those games do everything they can to make you not be Spiderman.

 

[Viata]

Don't care, the industry should burn in fact.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Tech layoffs were less "tech-y" than you might realize, hitting hardest the parts of these companies that are typically more female-dominated — like human resources, recruiting and marketing.

I cant believe someone wrote this as if its some kind of revelation. Marketing always gets cut first and usually outsourced since its vastly cheaper to do so. If you are laying off people why the fuck would you need recruiters? If you will cut jobs you need less people tard wrangling and human resources were insanely bloated in every company I worked in the last 10-15 years. When I started working we were almost 300 people in a factory and HR was only one chill dude who had worked there for almost 30 years at that point.

They will always cut things that are only tangential to the company work and can be easily replaced. Its not rocket science.

Makes sense, and in that case maybe the marketing layoffs don't meant Woke is dead, but just that the industry has grown too much.

But do HR normally get fired as well when companies downsize? Like you mentioned, those have become bloated over the years.

I agree. Usually it is the all-powerful HR that fires people who are more useful than them. If it says HR, it means that this decision was made by the management. And if the management is dealing with layoffs, it means the situation is difficult.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Fake jobs, fake economy, fake money...

Fake tits...

 

[Alienman]

And fake games.

 

[Raghar]

Copy machines are hard. They were designed with dumbed down interface so a random female with master degree could operate them. The problem is when you are smarter than a female with master degree.

 

[Rincewind]

Lol, I'm the dude on the right. "You can call me the janitor, I don't give a fuck, as long as you give me something interesting to work on". That sums it up.

 

[gurugeorge]

If female HR baggage is being fired that's actually pretty good news.

 

[Cologno]

Copy machines are hard. They were designed with dumbed down interface so a random female with master degree could operate them. The problem is when you are smarter than a female with master degree.

You joke, but there's more truth than you might realize. My second real job after graduating college was working for a company that repaired these things. Firms with "big" HR departments were understood to have lots of women in them and were considered easy money. Firms that were small manufacturing or engineering outfits didn't call nearly as much.

 

[Ryzer]

Too many bullshit jobs must be eradicated, more people must work in a real job like working in the fields for example.