Jason Schreier did an interview with GQ about his new book, but I thought this part was especially interesting.
I can say that, as someone who has looked at game job postings extensively over the years (to find out info about unannounced games), that I often see the same senior positions go unfilled for 6-12+ months (and sometimes notably longer). I've also heard form some higher up publisher people that this is definitely a problem in the industry.
It's been a long time since I've seen any specific stats on this, but I think there was something like over half of game developers leave the industry within their first five years, and some insane number (like 80-90%+) were out by their early 30s. This was quite a few years ago though, so it's hard to dig up or remember exactly.
I can say that, as someone who has looked at game job postings extensively over the years (to find out info about unannounced games), that I often see the same senior positions go unfilled for 6-12+ months (and sometimes notably longer). I've also heard form some higher up publisher people that this is definitely a problem in the industry.
It's been a long time since I've seen any specific stats on this, but I think there was something like over half of game developers leave the industry within their first five years, and some insane number (like 80-90%+) were out by their early 30s. This was quite a few years ago though, so it's hard to dig up or remember exactly.
Source: https://www.gq.com/story/blood-sweat-and-pixels-jason-schreierGQ said:GQ: Your book talks about how all these games—and most games, really—are made under these extreme conditions and yet so many games come out every year. Do you think that's sustainable?
Jason Schreier: That's the question that I've been asking for years. The short answer is no. The thing that makes it seem most unsustainable is the glut of video games; on Steam every day there are hundreds of new releases that come out, there's no way to filter them all. In the triple-A games world, you're seeing publishers try to adapt, and the ones that aren't adapting are going to fall by the wayside.
Who knows as far as the work and the human cost, whether it's sustainable. There are no real stats on any of this. You can't get stats on people who are burnt out or leave the industry. Nothing like that exists. I hear anecdotally about how it's impossible to find senior leads on games because so many people have just stopped, and so the industry skews towards youth. It's a lot of people who have just joined, or have been working on games for a few years and haven't burnt out yet. I think it's something a lot of people are talking about, but because there are no numbers there's no way of knowing.