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NEWS: 41% Developers in 2025 GDC Survey Impacted by Layoffs, 11% Experienced Layoffs




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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6685
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Can't say I'm surprised by this. Yeah, I agreed about the A.I thing. Also, the layoff at game companies also concerned me.

I'm also very concerned that this generation and the last generation has a lack of new I.P. franchises from AAA developers and that includes Sony, and Microsoft compared to the PS3/360/Wii era when there seems to be more creative IP franchises being created in that era. So yeah, I find that disturbing that there's a lack of new IPs from AAA developers. We're getting sequels from established IP franchises (which is OK, but still doesn't mean that people will take notice of the lack of new IP), and we're seeing more indie game development (which is good, but won't keep the distraction of AAA developers not creating new IP franchises for that long), and I'm happy to see retro games are still in active forces. But the micro-transaction and the DLCs are turning off a lot of people from this model of video gaming.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4694
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 3:36 pm Reply with quote
No real surprise that layoffs leaned more towards narrative areas and less towards "business and finance." Less creativity and more 'how do we make money?'.

My guess is that devs will probably treat the story/script writing as something more like the QA part. They'll rely more on outsourcing early on when the need is higher and have fewer in-house employees doing it.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2379
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:29 pm Reply with quote
Good grief, when your entire industry loses 10% of its work force, that is a disaster. I've seen some articles that straight up have the XBox on them, considering MS are the biggest culprits. Then there's the whole problem with the tech industry as it goes through its awkward phase into an industry about maintenance rather than breakthroughs. What a mess
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thecowardlyantoine



Joined: 04 Aug 2023
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 7:30 pm Reply with quote
I guess it's time for studios to start making good games again.
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varmintx



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1244
Location: Covington, KY
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:01 pm Reply with quote
Boy, that sure is a lot of terrible.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 818
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:25 pm Reply with quote
The wrong people are making too much money off these games and are making horrendous decisions to keep their wealth in place.
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Zased



Joined: 30 Nov 2024
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 9:59 pm Reply with quote
That seems pretty bad to me yet I keep hearing from gaming outlets how 2024 was the best year in gaming ever and anyone who has issues about the state of the industry is misinformed. Not sure what to think now.
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