Survey Says That 33% of US Video Game Industry Workers Were Laid Off Over Last 2 Years

We regularly hear about layoffs after COVID, with companies getting rid of the people they hired when staying at home was the option that made people spend money on various entertainment services. 

The video game industry has suffered a lot from this phenomenon, perhaps even more than you think: the Game Developers Conference (GDC) released its 2026 State of the Game Industry Report, which revealed that 33% of video game workers in the US were laid off in the past two years (via Variety).

The organization offered 2,300 gaming industry professionals surveys "customized for each participant group, ensuring that developers, marketers, executives, investors and others answered questions most relevant to them," and the result looks depressing, but not only in the US: globally, 28% of respondents went through job cuts, and half of them said that their current or most recent employer has conducted layoffs in the past 12 months.

Other than that, the report found that 82% of US-based respondents support unionization: "Support was higher among workers earning under $200,000 per year (87%), those who have been laid off in the past two years (88%) and people younger than 45 (86%). No respondents aged 18-24 were opposed to unionization."

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