One in Ten Developers Lost Their Jobs in 2024, According to GDC Report

It is painful to look back to 2024 and review the game industry job market, which had been hit by showers of layoff bullets. However, we might have to do so to better understand our current situation and to prepare properly for the future. 

The recently released 2025 State of the Game Industry report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) is based on a survey sent out to over 3,000 developers. A sad fact it presented is that one in ten developers lost their jobs in the past year. 

The main reasons why the companies reduce headcounts have been voted as restructuring (22%), declining revenue (18%), and market shifts/industry trends (15%). Besides, the following terms are frequently brought up - pandemic/COVID, greed, and over-hiring. Other than these listed reasons, “no reason given” was also a choice, which, unfortunately, was 19% of the participants selected. 

“In this industry, we set impossible goals and then fire everyone if they prove to be impossible. We need to apply lean and agile processes instead of shooting for the moon every single time,” a quote on the report reads. 

For those who were affected, their former departments were narrative (19%), production and team management (16%), visual arts (16%), programming/engineering (12%), game design (9%), and business and finance (6%).

Looking at the future, nearly 60% of the respondents are concerned about future layoffs in their companies, and the percentage of those who don't feel worried about this dropped from 35% of last year to 30%.

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