Current Events > The western gaming industry is collapsing

(+) Yeah! (+)

Major layoffs this year:
Microsoft- 1800 (Xbox)
Sony- 900 (Playstation)
EA- 670

Only in February. Thank God Japan has laws making it difficult to do this shit.

Is this why boobs are returning to games again?

Thank goodness for indie game developers.

morrowboomers and that dude what only plays PS2 games stock rising

Those numbers are small compared to other companies though. Layoffs across the board to start 2024.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Just their career

I guess Sony is western

Maybe old mega companies. Console makers mostly are falling. Larian Studios won game of the year for BG3. Maybe just we will see a shift in who is on top. Old dominant companies will fall and new ones will take their place

Irony posted...

I guess Sony is western

Playstation has been headquarted in California since 2016.

Sony firings took place in the UK

Dakimakura posted...

Sony firings took place in the UK

There was layoffs at Naughty Dog and Insomniac.

Bioware fired 50+ employees a few months ago, many on the creative side of things including writers that had been with the company since the days of Baldur's Gate. Of course, Bioware has had terrible turnover ever since EA bought them.

SocialistGamer posted...

Playstation has been headquarted in California since 2016.

who owns Playstation?

SocialistGamer posted...

There was layoffs at Naughty Dog and Insomniac.

there were layoffs across ALL their studios worldwide, even in japan.

so your topic title is very confusing

CrimsonGear80 posted...

there were layoffs across ALL their studios worldwide, even in japan.

so your topic title is very confusing

Sony announced 900 cuts yesterday focusing primarily on European studios and a couple of US ones (ND/Insomniac).

SocialistGamer posted...

Sony announced 900 cuts yesterday focusing primarily on European studios and a couple of US ones (ND/Insomniac).

maybe read their statements again...

also what country was Sony founded and still operates in?

NeonOPPAl posted...

Is this why boobs are returning to games again?

No, in fact only boobs can save the west now.

Seaman_Prime posted...

No, in fact only boobs can save the west now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Interactive_Entertainment
Read the part about restructuring as SIE.

live service games took a huge toll

I don't mean to downplay the impact that layoffs have, but how many tens of thousands of people are employed in the western game industry? A few thousand here and there doesn't mean the system is collapsing.

Collapsing, or keeping institutional shareholders happy by slashing costs year on year?

garan posted...

Bioware fired 50+ employees a few months ago, many on the creative side of things including writers that had been with the company since the days of Baldur's Gate.

Meh. Who needs writers?

All you have to do these days is churn out hundreds of costumes and that will keep you going for at least 6 years.

You DLC lovers have done it to yourselves.

DarkDoc posted...

Meh. Who needs writers?

All you have to do these days is churn out hundreds of costumes and that will keep you going for at least 6 years.

You DLC lovers have done it to yourselves.

lol

SocialistGamer posted...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Interactive_Entertainment
Read the part about restructuring as SIE.

Jim Ryan announced in September 2023 his intention to leave Sony in March 2024. Hiroki Totoki, the president, COO, and CFO of Sony Group, took over as chairman of SIE in October 2023 and then will act as interim CEO of SIE in April 2024 after Ryan's departure

This part? Is this why boobs are returning to their natural habitat?

SocialistGamer posted...

Only in February. Thank God Japan has laws making it difficult to do this shit.

The problem is that redundant employees in Japan, while still on the roster, are often assigned to menial tasks instead.

I know theres a lot of tech layoffs in Silicon Valley right now but isnt the gaming industry notorious for this?

Humble_Novice posted...

Thank goodness for indie game developers.

Indie developers are in a much, much worse place than AAA developers this year. Funding for projects has completely dried up. People just aren't noticing yet.

https://kotaku.com/game-industry-layoffs-how-many-2024-unity-twitch-1851155818

Layoff count;

Architect - Unknown
Bossa Studios - 19
Unity - 1,800
Twitch - 500
Playtika - 300-400
Discord - 170
Lost Boys Interactive - 125
Funselektor - 3
PTW- 45
Thunderful - 100
Pixelberry - 120
Netspeak - 25
Wimo Games - 35
Behaviour Interactive - 45
CI Games - 15-20
31st Union - Under 10
Com2Us - Two digit amount of people
MetaVerse World - 70
NCSoft - 70
Riot - 530
One Player Mission - 15
People Can Fly - 30+
Black Forest Games - 50+
Xbox Games Studios/Activision/ Bethesda- 1,900
Reikon Games - 60
Little Red Dog Games - 27
Eidos Montreal - 97
Chief Rebel - 21
Sega of America - 61
Nimble Giant - 30
Artificer - 28
Airship Syndicate - 12
Threaks - 25
Crop Circle Games - 50
Threshold Games - 11
91Act - 60
Visual Concepts - 9
Hidden Path Entertainment - 44
Daybreak - Unknown
Scopely - 15
ZA/UM - 24
Build a Rocket Boy - Unknown
Disruptive Games - Unknown
Game Loft - Under 38
EA - 670
Supermassive - 90
Die Gute Fabrik - 10
PlayStation Studio - 900
Deck Nine - 30
Total - At least 8,177 people

There will be more next week and in March to time with financial results and forecasts.

Good let it collapse and let us back to the old days back in the 80s and 90s but still have superior tech.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


They might as well be considered mostly Western at this point because they shunned their Japanese roots to cater to Western devs and interests over the past decade and look what it has wrought.

The AAA bubble is going to burst sooner or later if trends continue.

That's because it's predicated on shitty practices like micro transactions and "live service"

If you makes billions in profit you shouldnt allowed to do layoffs imo

The KFC console will ride in on its stallion and save us all

This is what happens when companies' primary way of making money is by enticing investors to buy in, rather than making products that people actually want to pay for. Hardly anybody wants to buy games that prioritize corporate buzzwords like "always-on", "live service", and "NFT" over good (hell, even just functional at this point) gameplay, and the developers know it, but publishers have been pushing them regardless and forcing devs to go along with their insane demands because that's what gives potential investors a chub.

The Western AAA game industry has been in a shitty place for over a decade. Abuse of microtransactions, season passes, and the lack has caused an enormous bubble that's inevitably going to burst.

I think people are missing the point when they're focusing on AAA or live service or whatever.

It's happening to all levels of developers. The market has hit saturation and people are cutting back on spending. That impacts everyone. Even mobile which was seen as the saving grace for a decade is hitting that point now.

Investors are outright not seeing any potential growth or return for most of these companies and are going elsewhere. That doesn't mean these companies can't make money. But it does mean that there's a lot less money to work with.

I know live service sucks and all that but that overall held this off from happening for an extra decade.

NeonOPPAl posted...

Is this why boobs are returning to games again?

100%

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/difficult-news-about-our-workforce/?sf271923331=1

read

Idk why people are still surprised by mass tech layoffs still. The past decade really was a massive bubble for the sector, especially during the pandemic but those days are over now.

ai123 posted...

Collapsing, or keeping institutional shareholders happy by slashing costs year on year?

A lot of gaming companies, and tech companies in general, increased manpower starting at the beginning of Covid and the surge in gaming/work from home has long since peaked. Now that a stable "new normal" is appearing they are sizing themselves appropriately for the demand that exists.

The pandemic did fuck with expectations with games for a bit. I think a lot of companies and investors thought of it as a 'to the moon!' moment. Now reality has set in.

In saying that unless these companies find something new that continues to drive up spending or users they were going to hit this point eventually. We're kinda at the point where no one has a great answer.

Punished_Blinx posted...

The pandemic did fuck with expectations with games for a bit. I think a lot of companies and investors thought of it as a 'to the moon!' moment. Now reality has set in.

In saying that unless these companies find something new that continues to drive up spending or users they were going to hit this point eventually. We're kinda at the point where no one has a great answer.

Like most industries, they're chasing trends that haven't happened yet. If they see a downward trend in the industry two years from now, they're not going to wait until they're running a deficit to start cutting back. That can possibly lead to self fulfilling prophecies, but the companies that don't do it tend to go broke and close.

Amocat posted...

If you makes billions in profit you shouldnt allowed to do layoffs imo

But if laws like that were implemented, millions of working class conservatives who think theyre capitalists will riot.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


LOL what was the last hit Sony had in Japan? The Walkman?

Stupid part about making video game characters less sexy is that even women want to see them sexy.