A Third of Game Devs Hit by Layoffs, and Most Still Can't Find Work

The numbers come from GDC Festival of Gaming organizers, who dropped their 15th State of the Game Industry Report on Thursday. Of the 34% who said they were laid off in the last 24 months, 68% lost their jobs within the past 12 months. For U.S.-based respondents, the layoff rate climbs to 39%.

Finding the next gig has been brutal. GDC reports 54% of laid-off workers are still unemployed, 62% have fired off 20 or more applications and a quarter have sent 100 or more. Overall unemployment among respondents landed at 21%, up from 13% a year earlier. Of those who did land new roles, 9% left the games industry entirely and 4% started their own companies or studios.

Nearly half of respondents, 49%, said their company ran some form of layoffs in the past 12 months. That figure splits sharply by studio type: 68% at AAA studios, 35% at older indie studios and 14% at younger indies. The survey drew more than 2,600 industry professionals, a 12% jump from last year.

Generative AI keeps spreading through the workflow. 40% of respondents said they use gen-AI tools on the job, up 4% year over year, and 57% of those use them daily. Adoption runs highest in business operations and services at 71%, at mobile-only studios at 70% and among free-to-play developers at 58%. Pressure to use it also depends on where you work: 27% of AAA workers feel encouraged or pushed toward gen AI, versus 9% at indie studios.

On platforms, PC stays king with 83% of developers building for it, while PlayStation 5 sits at 47% and Xbox Series X/S at 40%, both in line with last year. 10% said they're developing for the next PlayStation and 8% for Xbox's Project Helix. The GDC Festival of Gaming lands at San Francisco's Moscone Center March 1-4, 2027.