How is it that 2023 can have been one of the best years in memory for games but also one of the worst years in memory for games, and for the gaming industry. I can’t balance this equation – I’ve been trying all year and it gives me a headache.
We should be talking about 2023 as one of the years that will go down in history for games, like 2007 did. We’ve had Baldur’s Gate 3, Zelda 2 (Bertie that is not what it’s called), Cocoon, Alan Wake 2, Banished Vault, and – genuinely – so many more. We’ve been giddy all year at Eurogamer at the relentless quality on show. We ought to be celebrating now during this end of year period, and we will celebrate. We can’t do that alone, because there’s another story we cannot ignore: layoffs.
To give you an idea of how dominant the topic has been, I’m going to do something a little experimental. I’ve looked through Eurogamer and pulled out (nearly) all the stories we’ve written about layoffs during the year, and I’m going to list them all below. It’s a long, long list but I need you to see it. I need to remind you how big the issue has been.
Let’s reconvene underneath.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies. 15th Dec – Embracer layoffs hit 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks14th Dec – Larian boss’ TGA speech references new Wizards of the Coast layoffs6th Dec: Jumplight Odyssey dev League of Geeks lays off half of team6th Dec: TinyBuild closes internal studio Hakjak (Pigeon Simulator)5th Dec: Embracer layoffs hit Insurgency dev New World Interactive5th Dec: EA layoffs hit EA Sports WRC dev Codemasters4th Dec: Fae Farm dev Phoenix Labs’ has a second round of layoffs28th Nov: Embracer layoffs hit Chorus dev Fishlabs28th Nov: Embracer to close TimeSplitters dev Free Radical16th Nov: Sega threatening unionised staff with layoffs early next year16th Nov: Embracer says 900 employees were laid off in previous financial quarter15th Nov: Humble Games announces layoffs14th Nov: 505 Games parent company Digital Bros to lay off nearly a third of workforce14th Nov: Amazon lays off 180 people from games division10th Nov: Unity likely to announce layoffs early 20249th Nov: Warframe developer Digital Extremes confirms layoffs7th Nov: Ubisoft layoffs hit Montreal VFX studio and global IT team31st Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Bungie 24th Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Media Molecule22nd Oct: PlayStation layoffs hit Visual Arts19th Oct: Embracer layoffs hit Pinball FX maker Zen Studios17th Oct: Epic Games layoffs hit Bandcamp staff17th Oct: Frontier layoffs as F1 Manager struggles5th Oct: Telltale layoffs reportedly claim most of Wolf Among Us 2 team5th Oct: EA ends contracts with/lays off Dragon Age QA testers who unionised4th Oct: Amazon layoffs hit Twitch again29th Sep: Epic Games layoffs hit Fall Guys developer Mediatonic28th Sep: Epic Games laying off 900 employees28th Sep: Sega cancels Hyenas, Creative Assembly faces layoffs as a result25th Sep: Roblox lays off staff in hiring team20th Sep: Embracer layoffs hit Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition developer Beamdog20th Sep: Embracer layoffs hit Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics15th Sep: Immortals of Aveum studio Ascendent lays off 40 employees after poor sales23rd Aug: EA studio BioWare lays off 50 employees, including senior writers2nd Aug: Callisto Protocol dev Striking Distance lays off 32 employees26th Jul: Third round of CD Projekt Red layoffs20th Jul: Activision Blizzard lays off 50 employees from eSports division30th Jun: Daedelic closes Gollum studio, laying off 25 employees29th Jun: Pokemon Go developer Niantic laying off 230 staff27th Jun: Season developer Scavengers lays off half its studio28th Jun: Layoffs at EA BioWare as SWTOR dev taken elsewhere13th Jun: Embracer announces “comprehensive restructuring program” – layoffs will continue until March 20242nd Jun: EA guts mobile games studio Firemonkeys1st Jun: CD Projekt Red layoffs as Gwent dev ended31st May: Take-Two lays off 30 at Civilization developer Firaxis23rd May: Sega lays off 121 at Company of Heroes developer Relic20th May: Crypt of the Necrodancer dev Brace Yourself Games lays off half its staff15th May: CD Projekt Red layoffs at Molasses Flood following Witcher spin-off reboot14th May: Deviation Games reportedly lays off 90 staff from PlayStation-backed project10th May: Ubisoft customer service lay-offs3rd May: Third round of Unity layoffs to affect more than 600 jobs20th Apr: Facebook/Meta layoffs hit Lone Echo developer Ready at Dawn5th Apr: Amazon lays off 100 employees from games division29th Mar: EA announces layoffs to six percent of company, or roughly 750 jobs20th Mar: Amazon announces 9000 more layoffs, including 400 from Twitch17th Mar: Layoffs reported at Team1714th Mar: Facebook/Meta announces 10,000 layoffs as part of “year of efficiency”7th Mar: Take-Two layoffs to affect Private Division publishing label28th Feb: EA lays off 200-person Apex Legends QA team20th Jan: Google to axe 12,000 jobs19th Jan: Riot Games lays off 46 employees18th Jan: Xbox owner Microsoft axes 10,000 jobs – Bethesda, Halo studio 343 Industries, and Gears of War developer The Coalition affected19th Jan: Unity lays off nearly 300 staff
Now, it’s important to note that this list is not definitive. I’ve probably missed something somewhere and I know we as a site haven’t covered every single layoff in the industry. But that’s OK. It’s more to capture your attention.