Which gaming companies will layoff 20%+ of their workforce by end 2026?
Standard
22
Ṁ1879
2027
9%
Valve
18%
Behaviour Interactive
27%
Sony
28%
Bandai Namco
28%
Microsoft
31%
Square Enix
32%
Roblox
34%
Tencent
34%
NetEase
40%
Nintendo
41%
Epic
41%
Paradox
41%
Activision Blizzard
48%
Electronic Arts
49%
Ubisoft
49%
King
50%
Nexon
50%
Konami
50%
Krafton
50%
Devolver

The video game industry is currently at the end of a long consolidation period of a 20-30 year economic-creative cycle I define loosely as:

Consolidation -> Stagnation -> Fracture -> Innovation Boom -> Re-Establishment -> Consolidation...

But due to pressures after a COVID-era mini boom and investment decline across tech, it seems the Stagnation period is hitting full swing with mass layoffs. 2023 was a rough year for workers and yet 2024 is already far worse.

As major studios, publishers, and related tech companies teeter with overgrown bloat post-Consolidation, how many will end up so far overexposed that they collapse? This question attempts to track one aspect of that.

Feel free to add any relevant game companies, whether they be development studios, publishers, distros, engine providers, hardware suppliers, or related tech; subsidiaries, independently-owned, or umbrella companies; big or small. Ambiguous answers may be renamed for precision.

Each will resolve YES if they layoff 20%+ of their workforce by 2026, whether all at once, or in a succession of rounds. Since many companies have already hit this threshold in the past couple of years before this question was asked, we're starting after Playstation's recent announcement of 8% layoffs (27 Feb 2024). Also resolve YES if they shut down or disband for any reason.

Otherwise they resolve NO after 2026.

Compare/ contrast:

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wow I didn't have Annapurna on my bingo card, but damn we're lucky bc I wouldn't know how to resolve Entire Staff Resigns

Bungie wasn't on the list, but they would have just resolved YES

With the end of Humble Games, I'm now adding their sister company Humble Bundle in case this is an indicator of trend

Microsoft

Is this all Microsoft or specifically game development related? b/c Xbox Game Studio is also in this market.

@MattCWilson all Microsoft! They've got a ton of gaming subsidiaries so I wanted the umbrella too

bought Ṁ50 Roblox NO

Pat, can you clarify “in a succession of rounds?” Like, if this particular EA move is 5%, and then they do nothing until December 2026, and then in a baldly Grinchy holiday manuever they layoff 15% of the then-total workforce, is that 5 + 15 = 20?

Is Zynga still a thinga?

@MattCWilson yep! owned by Take-Two these days

@Stralor Man, where’s my GTA + Farmville mashup

reposted

12 hours in and EA just announced a 5% layoff