It is no secret that the industry is experiencing a pretty rapid, substantial contraction. Sega US announced layoffs yesterday, Embracer just a few days ago, Microsoft laid off 1900 actvision/xbox employees, and the list only grows larger/more dramatic the more you look into it.
I’m just curious what people here think. Is this an opportunity for indies? Could this lead to a substantial overhaul in how some studios are run? Is it just going to get worse and deeper as we enter a new dark age?
I don’t think there are actual financial woes in the industry right now and its not experiencing a contraction. There are layoffs happening all across the economy and most of the companies implementing layoffs are reporting record profits. I think companies are just using the moment to get rid of ppl to boosts their bottom line.
Hopefully, a lot of the laid off game developers will join existing indie studios or start their own. I really hope they don’t wait around until the next boom in this stupid boom-and-bust cycle and join back up with some corporation. Maybe if enough go to indies, the industry can transition to a focus on smaller, more creative games and the big players will struggle to find talent.
