Read from The Game Business:
Your view on the severity of the video game job losses will depend a bit on where you are based.
Amir Satvat told The Game Business that North America is, by far, the hardest hit area when it comes to job cuts. But there are parts of the world that are actually seeing growth.
“Over 70%, and in some years 75%, of the layoffs have been in North America,” Satvat shared. “North America used to have 30%, 35%, 40% of the open roles, and that number is now down to 25%. Overall employment in the industry has actually increased since pre-COVID. But if you're in North America in a AAA studio, you're like, ‘what are you talking about? The workforce is cut by 15% to 20%’. Versus if you're in a studio in Asia you’re like, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve seen an increase in jobs’.”
“And here’s another stat, over 50% of the cuts globally have been in California. California AAA is like the epicenter of the difficulty.”
As a result, Satvat said flexibility is key to finding work in games.
“There is opportunity, but it may be that if you want to stay in the industry, being open to going to some of these places like China, like Japan, not forever, but for some amount of time, that's going to become a larger part of the equation.”
Your view on the severity of the video game job losses will depend a bit on where you are based.
Amir Satvat told The Game Business that North America is, by far, the hardest hit area when it comes to job cuts. But there are parts of the world that are actually seeing growth.
“Over 70%, and in some years 75%, of the layoffs have been in North America,” Satvat shared. “North America used to have 30%, 35%, 40% of the open roles, and that number is now down to 25%. Overall employment in the industry has actually increased since pre-COVID. But if you're in North America in a AAA studio, you're like, ‘what are you talking about? The workforce is cut by 15% to 20%’. Versus if you're in a studio in Asia you’re like, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve seen an increase in jobs’.”
“And here’s another stat, over 50% of the cuts globally have been in California. California AAA is like the epicenter of the difficulty.”
As a result, Satvat said flexibility is key to finding work in games.
“There is opportunity, but it may be that if you want to stay in the industry, being open to going to some of these places like China, like Japan, not forever, but for some amount of time, that's going to become a larger part of the equation.”
