Why 2023 Was the Worst Best Year for Gaming - Video Game Industry Layoffs - 

Sorry this wasn't my Lightning Temple video friends. I'm still working on that, so stay tuned. Have a great holiday season, new year, etc etc, I appreciate you

That’s pretty scary honestly, the fact that someone can just lose everything so fast and so many people too…

Additionally, wasn't this the year when Unity tried to change the license and screw over hundreds of developers and studios out of greed? That was another catastrophe, albeit one they thankfully went back on for now. But damn to see how many game developers lost their jobs this year and how many studios closed down is absolutely tragic, especially given the games released in the same year. You'd think a year with this many good games would also be one where the developers got treated well and companies were expanding, but alas that wasn't the case...

Great video, Captain. GameSpot just posted a video highlighting that, as of September, Nintendo’s employee retention rate was 98.8% (compared to Japan’s 70% average) and they gave their employees a pay raise this year. Every staff member who worked on Zelda 1 is still with Nintendo shipping the new entries. Stubbornness and weird decision-making aside, I appreciate Nintendo’s dedication in this regard.

As a game dev(animator) who just got laid off this month I thank you for making this. Not sure what the future holds for me. Looking bleak.

These layoffs are beyond insane. Thank you for highlighting this.

Honestly, the public treats developers like they are disposable too. I also have to question the validity of art when it's meaning is basically, "shut up and do what I say" whether we are talking about consumers or corporations.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit, especially with the recent game awards season refusing to officially highlight that a huge number of people being celebrated are now unemployed.

As a person who wants to become a game developer for a career. I’m now actually scared now because this industry is always running into trouble with developers then the film industry with directors and actors

This is so sad. I didn't know it was THAT bad. This video is very important.

this was the big sad

The sad thing is this mostly because of terrible decisions from management and has nothing to do with the devs themselves but guess who ended up on the chopping block

Thank you for making this! More people need to see how corporations are trying to put profit over people, even when at an all time high

Burger, thank you for having the courage/mental fortitude to make this video!! Bringing attention to things like this can have a real impact. We all love games here, and by extension I love the people who make my favorite games. For example, it really frustrates me to know that Amazon Gaming Services (AGS) had layoffs twice this year. Those people could have been working on my MMO or they could have been working on a different project, but we have updates released for the game that are literally breaking the game at times and I can't help but wonder if they kept their staff intact would the bug testing have been more thorough. Also those people deserve the ability to keep themselves and their families fed and comfortable, so depending on how the layoffs were carried out I worry that they aren't able to immediately following termination. And it doesnt seem like a lot of gaming companies would be hiring more employees? Unless the layoffs are an anual thing. So yeah, shitty on multiple levels, and i appreciate you drawing attention to it. 💚

Bummer! Thanks for sharing

God's work, this video. It is almost like hearing a list of casualties in a war. But I don't want anyone to forget this in the same way I don't want anyone to forget how Brock Turner only did a few months for what he did behind that dumpster.

Thousands upon thousands of lay offs, it's hard to even imagine what that represent :/

as much as i complain very loudly about stuff i don't like in games, and how i value such games i have NEVER, NEVER blamed the developpers themselves, they are never responsible because it is not their job, simply put it's always a fucking management issue, someone that either doesn't understand how the industry works (ubisoft i'm looking at you, stop releasing games as buggy messes ffs) or that straight up treat the industry as some sort of disposable joke we deserve people that are passionate for what they plan out, not random corporates that makes it "business" or whatever, it's not even productive to do all those things in the first place!!! i feel sorry that the video game industry is dealing with such dark times, and i'm even thankful and surprised that despite how the video game industry treats those people, and how little understanding there is over how a video game even works by those people still allows us to have fun with their games i hope all those people that got laid off will get a new job that they will love, and be able to live with, very soon, doesn't matter if i liked the games they dev'd or not, that doesn't change the fact that all of them are talented, and even if they weren't, they're still human beings, anyone would deserve stability in their life.

I am admittedly unfamiliar with some of these companies, but some of the larger ones like Amazon, Meta, EA, etc, should get zero sympathy. This kind of thing is why I've been buying and playing more games from smaller companies. I hope all those who are affected can find employment with better companies who value their work.

Sad to hear that people lost their jobs this year.

Wait, cyber connect 2 closed down? I thought they where working on a new dot hack project! You can't do this to me!!!!

I gave this video a like despite it being really depressing

That Moon channel you linked below has some pretty bad takes on media as a whole. I watched one of them that I thought was pretty funny called “The Marvels Is The Worst Movie Ever Made” and all he really complained about was how woke it is. He also made a video on rap music that revived the outdated use of the term “mumble rap”, and he probably complained about how woke GTA6 is just judging off his Marvels video. But yeah, it really sucks that a shitload of employees got layed off.

Zzzz more commentary after the list plz