GDC's State of the Games Industry survey report says one in 10 respondents laid off in 2024

Game Developer Conference organisers have shared the results of this year’s State of the Game Industry survey – intended to provide a snapshot of current trends and sentiments among developers – revealing, among other things, that one in ten respondents lost their jobs in 2024, following the devastating wave of layoffs seen across the industry.

This year’s State of Games Industry report surveyed over 3000 developers across a range of topics, but layoffs were once again front of mind as the widespread industry job cuts of 2023 continued into 2024 – with figures suggesting 13000 employees lost their jobs last year. According to GDC’s survey, not only did one in ten developers report having been laid off directly, 41 percent of respondents said they’d felt the impact of layoffs in some way. The area reportedly most affected by layoffs was game narrative at 19 percent.

Respondents cited restructuring, declining revenue, and marketing shifts as the main reason for job cuts, with many blaming “specific issues like Covid-era over-expansion, rising production costs, declining player interest, unrealistic expectations for the ‘next big hit’, poor leadership and mismanagement” as the reason why layoffs have continued to impact the games industry.

Elsewhere, unionisation remains a talking point, with one-fifth of respondents saying they’d discussed unionising over the past 12 months. 29 percent said their companies were supportive of the discussions, while 19 percent were mixed and 12 percent opposed unionisation.

GDC also questioned respondents on average working hours, with 57 percent saying they worked 40 hours or less a week. 13 percent of those survey worked more than 51 hours per week – up from 8 percent last year – with two-third attributing their hours to self-pressure.