Games industry: one in ten developers will have lost their job by 2024

A recent survey by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) shows the extent of job cuts in the games industry: according to the survey, 11 percent of employees in the industry lost their jobs in 2024. 41 percent of the 3,000 respondents stated that they had experienced the effects of redundancies directly or observed them in other teams.

Last year, jobs were cut on a large scale across the entire tech sector. The games industry, which had massively increased its workforce during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, was particularly affected. Almost all major companies, including Sony and Microsoft, cut jobs. Other studios were closed completely – According to the survey, four percent of respondents worked at studios that were shut down. In its report on the survey, the GDC points out that this situation does not only affect developers who have lost their jobs. Young professionals are also finding it difficult to find work at the moment.

Skepticism towards AI

Another finding of the survey: there is increasing skepticism about the use of generative AI in games studios. Although 36% of respondents stated that they already use generative AI in their work, a firm rejection attitude is becoming apparent in many places: in the previous year's survey, 18% of respondents stated that their companies were not interested in using generative AI. This figure has now risen to 27 percent.

30% of respondents also believe that generative AI has a negative impact on the games industry –. In the previous year, this figure was only 13%. Only 18% see a positive impact on the industry. According to the survey report, developers are concerned about the protection of intellectual property, energy consumption and the quality of AI-generated content, among other things. There are also concerns that AI could make more jobs redundant.

An interesting detail: the use of AI is particularly widespread in the finance and marketing departments of games companies and in management positions – i.e., not in areas such as programming, writing, or the production of assets and graphics. According to the survey, older employees also use generative AI more frequently than younger generations.

A quarter is female

Overall, the games industry remains an attractive employer, especially for young people: a third of respondents were between 25 and 34 years old, another third were 35 to 44 years old. Only six percent of respondents were older than 55. The proportion of men fell to 66 percent. Women made up a quarter of employees in the games industry, while 6 percent identified themselves as non-binary.

At 58 percent, the majority of respondents worked in the USA. Only 1.3 percent of those surveyed worked in Germany. The complete report on the survey has been published by the GDC on Dropbox.

(dahe)