2023’s great games were overshadowed by a dark cloud of layoffs
By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Layoffs are an unfortunate reality of any industry, but the scope and scale of video game layoffs in 2023 are far beyond a typical year. More than any specific video game or piece of news, layoffs defined the past 12 months. Companies large and small have felt their impact. Unofficial figures estimate 9,000 workers have been affected, and at the heart of it all are corporations that valued growth at all costs — including people.
In September, Epic Games laid off 830 employees. In a statement, CEO Tim Sweeney wrote, “We’ve been spending way more money than we earn. [...] I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.” Some of that spending was on companies like SuperAwesome and Bandcamp which Epic bought in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Both companies were sold off shortly after Epic announced layoffs.
Epic makes Fortnite, a multibillion-dollar revenue generator; it licenses the Unreal Engine software that many developers use to make games, including Final Fantasy VII Remake, Lies of P, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor; and it has its own (unprofitable) gaming storefront. And Epic still spent so much of that money that, in order to maintain a level of profitability acceptable to investors, it had to let 830 people go.
Over the last two years, Embracer Group has made headlines for its numerous purchases of gaming studios, media companies, and the IP rights to The Lord of the Rings. This year,
Read more on theverge.com
