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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Amir Satvat told The Game Business that North America is, by far, the hardest hit area when it comes to job cuts. But there are parts of the world that are actually seeing growth.

"Over 70%, and in some years 75%, of the layoffs have been in North America," Satvat shared. "North America used to have 30%, 35%, 40% of the open roles, and that number is now down to 25%. Overall employment in the industry has actually increased since pre-COVID. But if you're in North America in a AAA studio, you're like, 'what are you talking about? The workforce is cut by 15% to 20%'. Versus if you're in a studio in Asia you're like, 'What are you talking about? We've seen an increase in jobs'."

"And here's another stat, over 50% of the cuts globally have been in California. California AAA is like the epicenter of the difficulty."

As a result, Satvat said flexibility is key to finding work in games.

"There is opportunity, but it may be that if you want to stay in the industry, being open to going to some of these places like China, like Japan, not forever, but for some amount of time, that's going to become a larger part of the equation."

More at the link:

Over 50% of the job cuts in video games are in California

Jobs guru Amir Satvat joins us to share data on the state of the video game jobs market

www.thegamebusiness.com

 

[Ozriel]

Completely unsurprising that the state with by far the biggest concentration of game developers and studios sees the biggest impact of job cuts in AAA gaming

 

[killatopak]

Isn't it also one of the most expensive states? I'm sure that's a big factor.

 

[Shifty1897]

Reduced profitability due to market oversaturation and insanely high cost of living. It's simple math.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

America's games industry is collapsing.

Shame, they made some great games during the PS360 days.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

And Sony is such an idiot... putting its headquarters there.

And to top it all off..

With Fat Orange.

 

[Loomy]

Completely unsurprising that the state with by far the biggest concentration of game developers and studios sees the biggest impact of job cuts in AAA gaming

Isn't it also one of the most expensive states? I'm sure that's a big factor.

Reduced profitability due to market oversaturation and insanely high cost of living. It's simple math.

Gaf's on fire today! That's pretty much it.

And Sony is such an idiot... putting its headquarters there.

To be fair, that happened 10 years ago and was probably planned 5 years before that.

World was very different at the time.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Good

 

[Magic Carpet]

The State of Emergency.
Your gonna have to pay me big money to get me to drive my car anywhere near that wasteland.

 

[Labadal]

Cause for celebration.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

please be the wokies

 

[Kacho]

 

[anyasok]

please be the wokies

Would be well deserved i am afraid

 

[calico]

 

[Physiognomonics]

Sure California is expensive but there is also the problem of lack of creativity in that state. It is what it is.

 

[falling into hell]

 

[yogaflame]

No surprise. It is infested with twisted DEI and woke agenda which are poison to the industry and ruined creativity and quality.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

No surprise. It is infested with twisted DEI and woke agenda which are poison to the industry and ruined creativity and quality.

Me and the boys celebrating the blue hair disease being eradicated from the games industry…

 

[Zacfoldor]

AI says, "The cost of living in Santa Monica, CA is significantly higher than the national average, largely driven by extremely high housing costs, with average home values around $1.66 million and average rents for a one-bedroom apartment exceeding $3,000 per month as of September 2025. While groceries and transportation are also more expensive than the national average, utilities are comparable to other areas due to Santa Monica's mild climate."

A one bedroom apt is many times the rent of a "rural" whole house's rent in the US, extremely onerous regulations especially around HR issues and you see why they would rather hire remote people who work from home and can work for a lot less and still afford rent and bills. With WFH during the pandemic the model of going to a large expensive city to find talent no longer makes sense. It did before and to a certain extent it will still be easier to find the talent needed at the metropolis of gaming tech, but if you just need warm bodies to oversee the AI and do good enough for gamepass work, you can do that a LOT cheaper. I can hardly believe any remote work companies are left renting office space there. The crux is that these are high tech companies paying all the rent while also one of the few industries where wfh might actually be better than working from the office for the employer. WFH has devastated some of these metros that rely on foot traffic.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

please be the wokies

There was an interview with Bobby Kotick recently where he said one of the concerns with Western game dev right now is essentially...the wokies. The ideology is anti competitive.

 

[diffusionx]

These companies massiely overhired during the plandemic and are cutting back and instead of admitting they fucked up they're just blaming it on AI.

 

[mckmas8808]

Completely unsurprising that the state with by far the biggest concentration of game developers and studios sees the biggest impact of job cuts in AAA gaming

Yeah, pretty simple math here. Good point.

 

[mckmas8808]

There was an interview with Bobby Kotick recently where he said one of the concerns with Western game dev right now is essentially...the wokies. The ideology is anti competitive.

Source please......

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Source please......

 

[Kacho]

Source please......

In the interview Men_in_Boxes posted, he talks about his workforce like he's running a daycare. I can't remember the exact timestamp, but it was something like "China is going to crush us in a few years because their employees produce without demanding vegan lunches"

 

[Xtib81]

That's a lot of DEI positions.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

In the interview Men_in_Boxes posted, he talks about his workforce like he's running a daycare. I can't remember the exact timestamp, but it was something like "China is going to crush us in a few years because their employees produce without demanding vegan lunches"

Not surprised one bit. I dont think anyone can outproduce China (or any of those Asian/Indian regions) when they focus on it. They got too much manpower and work ethic to produce which no American or European can match (western countries in general).

It's like cars. Which regions produces the best cars? Japan and Europe. Which produces the best pick ups? USA?

USA lost to Japan/Euro looks and quality because it gets to a point US workers get lazy. Too cozy and paid too much. They had the crown but lost it.

In one of my old jobs, I was in charge of product management. I'd get prototype samples from the US, which got it from their Chinese supplier. This was 20 years ago. I get some samples with mistakes or fixes I'd need made before it gets approved by my dept. I'd email the US guy I need these mistakes fixed.

No joke. I'd get an airmailed package with corrected prototypes from China on my desk in a handful of days. So the US guy must had got on the phone asap to China, got stuff fixed, and some Chinese guy airmailed it to my head office with my name on it so someone would put it on my desk.

It would take longer time for me to do a sample product request from the warehouse guys I need a case of product X. And the warehouse was connected to our office. If I had the warehouse slot code knowing where it is, I could get it myself in 5 minutes. And they'd send it to me in a week. That's why anytime there was a product request, we'd just fill out a form and get it ourselves after a warehouse guy would tell us there it is. Then you go to the warehouse and look around and half the time they are fucking around on forklifts zipping around or talking sports pools. That's local laziness.

But a product sample fix flown from China would arrive quicker than a coworker getting it from the next door building. Funny how a couriered package can be put on my desk from the warehouse guy fast. But if it involves a guy going to pick the products for any office staff it takes forever.

 

[Kacho]

Not surprised one bit. I dont think anyone can outproduce China (or any of those Asian/Indian regions) when they focus on it. They got too much manpower and work ethic to produce which no American or European can match (western countries in general).

It's like cars. Which regions produces the best cars? Japan and Europe. Which produces the best pick ups? USA?

USA lost to Japan/Euro looks and quality because it gets to a point US workers get lazy. Too cozy and paid too much. They had the crown but lost it.

In one of my old jobs, I was in charge of product management. I'd get prototype samples from the US, which got it from their Chinese supplier. This was 20 years ago. I get some samples with mistakes or fixes I'd need made before it gets approved by my dept. I'd email the US guy I need these mistakes fixed.

No joke. I'd get an airmailed package with corrected prototypes from China on my desk in a handful of days. So the US guy must had got on the phone asap to China, got stuff fixed, and some Chinese guy airmailed it my head office with my name on it so someone would put it on my desk.

It would take longer time for me to do a sample product request from the warehouse guys I need a case of product X. And the warehouse was connected to our office. If I had the warehouse slot code knowing where it is, I could get it myself in 5 minutes. And they'd send it to me in a week. That's why anytime there was a product request, we'd just fill out a form and get it ourselves after a warehouse guy would tell us there it is. That's local laziness.

But a product sample fix flown from China would arrive quicker than a coworker getting it from the next door building.

He also spoke about how certain employees conspired against him with a shady activist law firm. But with Bobby being the absolute unit he is, he sniffed it out and systematically eliminated them.

Imagine trying to make fucking video games and dealing with that nonsense.

 

[IAmRei]

why they don't put their place in somewhere cheaper?

 

[StereoVsn]

Yeah, it makes sense since cost for keeping West Coast labor and studios is pretty darn high.

And the political leanings of the west coast staff don't help in producing well rounded interesting titles.

 

[MagusMajul]

we don't need all the blue haired freaks

 

[Sgt.Asher]

Western games largely suck now because of the nonsense from California.

 

[kruis]

In the interview Men_in_Boxes posted, he talks about his workforce like he's running a daycare. I can't remember the exact timestamp, but it was something like "China is going to crush us in a few years because their employees produce without demanding vegan lunches"

Those Chinese developers also won't need sauna's, a gym and the occasional screaming session that western devs expect.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

If the goal is to cut costs from pricey California salaries and building leases, it makes sense.

The biggest supporters are techie WFH people. So hey, if that theory was true the whole time you can get quality performance from WFH, then it makes sense for a game company to relocate to a cheaper state and hire people online from Idaho or Manitoba or China who'd have cheap salary expectations. Who says the only good tech workers have to come from CA.

Great job guys! You promoted a working environment that stressed WFH. Now the execs will follow that and go elsewhere.

 

[mckmas8808]

In the interview Men_in_Boxes posted, he talks about his workforce like he's running a daycare. I can't remember the exact timestamp, but it was something like "China is going to crush us in a few years because their employees produce without demanding vegan lunches"

This sounds legit interesting.

 

[Dorago]

You can't make labor, healthcare, commercial real estate, food, and utility prices that high and expect mobile capital to stay there for long.

It's been ten years since the shit hit the fan, but these companies are so risk adverse they would hold out for thirty if they thought there would be any upside to it.

They don't believe that California will EVER get better, so they are leaving.

 

[Saber]

With how much expansive that place is in conjuction with amount of certain amount of special individuals, thats probably for the best.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Isn't it also one of the most expensive states? I'm sure that's a big factor.

I was asked to help open a satellite office for my company out there and was there for a year. I'm from fucking Queens NYC so I'm used to silly costs of living but the Bay Area in CA was utterly comical. Not SF either. I'm not surprised at all whenever I read stuff like this, it's an absurd arms race between cost of living and income.

 

[yazenov]

in before someone says go woke go broke

 

[Fake]

Good. Fuck California.

 

[diffusionx]

I remember reading stories in 2020 about how tech companies were hiring people out of college, giving them $250,000 salaries, and saying they had no work for them.

Yea no shit letting them go in 2025 is good for efficiency and cost savings and you can even say an AI is doing their job because the AI is doing nothing just like them.

 

[yazenov]

Good. Fuck California.

Their pronounce is they/them fucking jobless.

 

[Arsic]

I'd rather they all have their jobs and we're making great games.

Unfortunately I don't care where you live… if you keep making shitty games then bye Felicia.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I remember reading stories in 2020 about how tech companies were hiring people out of college, giving them $250,000 salaries, and saying they had no work for them.

Yea no shit letting them go in 2025 is good for efficiency and cost savings and you can even say an AI is doing their job because the AI is doing nothing just like them.

No different than the dot.com era 25 years ago. They did the same thing. They'd have recruiters roaming dorms and campus residences trying to find computer and science students. And it's not like grads they'd get to sign up were paid entry level business or marketing salaries. They were probably double what any other sector grad would get.

As always, there's shit tons of money tech companies have. All those IPOs and angel investors contribute war chests in the billions. So even for tech companies doing lousy losing $100s or million or even billions, they still got enough cushion to last for years. At some point a poorly doing company will file for bankruptcy, but the wild west of money, bad spending, crazy blind hiring and firing sprees, and over the top budgets are always a tech industry thing and can last a decade before the well runs dry.

And 2024 and 2025 is that reckoning period after a decade of tech run ups since the mid-2010s.

 

[EN250]

?

 

[Kenneth Haight]

GAF

 

[Kenneth Haight]

in before someone says go woke go broke

Some things don't need to be said, they're just known.

 

[viveks86]

Another rare incel victory?

 

[Putonahappyface]

 

[Team Skoda]

Well, as long as "they/them" don't scatter to other States like roaches, whatever.