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Check this out - Cloud Imperium reportedly hit with layoffs: Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has reportedly laid off an unknown number of staff. As reported by Game Developer, former employees have shared that they have been made redundant on LinkedIn, including level designer Dane Kubicka, Austin QA lead Vincent Sinatra and Austin senior QA analyst Andrew Rexroth. Star Citizen's game director, Todd Papy, also left the company last week according to his LinkedIn profile. Read more 🔴 Kaedim is the platform that makes 3D asset creation a breeze. It’s a platform that generates 3D models from 2D images in minutes, with no 3D skills required. You can use any image, from paintings to memes, and get a 3D model that’s ready to use in your game. Kaedim is powered by AI and in-house art, and delivers assets that are up to industry standards. 🟢 Get Started Today: Kaedim3d.com or Check out our Showcase: app.kaedim3d.com/showcase #gdc #gdc2024 #a16z #BuildingBetterGames #GameDesign #VideoGameDevelopment #GamingIndustry #IndieGame

GamesIndustryBiz continues to offer complexity of analysis as they compare and contrast the RiotGames (Tencent) layoffs of 530 with the Xbox (Microsoft) layoffs of 1900 and the very different reasons for the layoffs. this is a LONG and super detailed analysis. I have to give Brendan Sinclair credit for coming up with a near perfect analysis to show how varied the reasons for layoffs are. Please go to their site and read all of it. ----- GamesIndustryBiz : "Riot and Microsoft layoffs the same, but different | This Week in Business. The League of Legends maker's accountability falls on people not at fault, while Microsoft celebrates the Activision Blizzard acquisition by disposing of devs" (Brendan Sinclair) (Jan 26, 2024) (excerpts) Riot Games: "It was another brutal week in the industry right from the start, with Riot Games laying off about 530 people on Monday while reciting a lot of the familiar lines we've been hearing for the past year. QUOTE | "We're changing some of the bets we've made and shifting how we work across the company to create focus and move us toward a more sustainable future." – In the second sentence of his note to employees informing them of the cuts, Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja marks off two squares from the recent games industry layoff bingo card: "focus" and "sustainable." QUOTE | "As CEO, I'm accountable for the changes we're making and where we're headed in the future." - Jadeja in his note. QUOTE | "We've left ourselves with no room for experimentation or failure – which is vital to a creative company like ours. All of this puts the core of our business at risk." QUOTE | "We've made this decision because it's a necessity. It's what we need to do in order to maintain a long-term focus for players." Microsoft Xbox: QUOTE | "These Xbox layoffs are such a mess that staff across Activision Blizzard are texting *me* to try to find out if they might be impacted. Nearly 2,000 job cuts and people now just have to wait around to see if they're part of the bloodbath." – Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier on social media Thursday morning. STAT | $22.3 billion - Microsoft's net income was up 27% year-over-year to $22.3 billion in its most recently reported quarterly earnings. STAT | 13% - Xbox content and services revenue was up 13% year-over-year. STAT | 23% - Operating income for the More Personal Computing division (which includes Xbox) was up 23% year-over-year. STAT | $3 trillion - Microsoft's market cap broke $3 trillion this week, making it only the second company to ever reach that valuation. QUOTE | "Microsoft's announcement that it will be laying off 1,900 video game workers makes clear that, even when you work at a successful company in an extremely profitable industry, your livelihood is not protected without a voice on the job." – The Communication Workers of America, in a statement released a few hours after word of the layoffs broke. GamesIndustryBiz : https://lnkd.in/gPdyjMCp #gameindustry #analysis

IGN recently released an article where they attempted to decipher the reasons behind the layoffs suffered during 2023 and 2024 in the video game industry. It's a delicate topic, and obviously, there are differing opinions across the internet. And although many people have tried to pinpoint a culprit, in the end, there are many factors at play that can trigger such events. Not everything is black and white, and while I largely agree with the article, I know there are many global factors that could have also been addressed and obviously substantially affect the situation. I think more articles like this are needed. It's necessary for companies to be honest and talk about why they end up in such situations to identify a common factor that the industry can address to avoid these kinds of situations in the future. Just as it's important to study history to avoid past mistakes, I believe it's also important to gather current events as soon as possible and heed the signals so that we don't have to find solutions to same problems in 10 or 15 years. https://lnkd.in/ePxXxxiW #layoffs #gamedev #epicgames #riotgames

When layoffs happen so often you need a website to keep track of the industry...that's not a good sign. With Riot Games, Unity, and Microsoft all happening in January 2024 we're sitting around 50% of 2023's total layoffs in the first 4 weeks of the year. Not great, gang. Not great. Layoffs will happen with mergers when redundancy is created. Or when a business has a bad year (or years). But if layoffs are coming in after successful years of profit that's just greedy leadership. How can the industry pivot away from this cycle? https://lnkd.in/gHbKJ6KV

GamesIndustryBiz: Roblox China affected by layoffs. Company says actions are specific to "unique business and operational needs" “Roblox China has been hit with layoffs, affecting employees at its headquarters in Shenzhen and teams working in the US. A spokesperson confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that 15 people were let go due to an "evaluation of the operational structure" of the company, also known as LuoBu. "Those employees whose roles were impacted have been informed," the spokesperson said. "These actions are specific to LuoBu and its unique business and operational needs. No other teams within LuoBu or Roblox are impacted." They added: "[It] remains committed to our long term vision and plan for the LuoBu platform in China." Roblox China launched in 2020, following a joint venture with Tencent in 2019 to create an educational version of the game. Seven months after launch, the LuoBuLesi app was taken down due to a "number of important transitory actions" with plans to rebuild it. Last month, Roblox laid off 30 employees working in talent acquisition due to "adjusted hiring needs." GamesIndustryBiz: https://lnkd.in/g5fcFpv9 #gameindustry #videogames #china

Riot Games has confirmed layoffs affecting approximately 11% of its workforce. This decision is part of the company's restructuring efforts to better align with their current and future projects. The move impacts various departments and is a significant development for the company known for popular games like "League of Legends." And “Valorant” For more details on the layoffs and their implications, you can read the full article [here]

Those who want to join the video game industry must prepare for the possibility that they may have no job security. There has been a massive amount of layoffs in the past recent years, primarily starting after the pandemic. These layoffs have been seen in almost every major gaming company like Microsoft, Riot Games, Unity, Activision-Blizzard, and more. As Nooney pointed out, "This kind of cyclical hiring and firing behavior has been part of the game industry for decades." There are various reasons for these layoffs such as, games failing to create a profit, pandemic overexpansion, and the economy. As someone who intends on joining the industry myself, it is very concerning how little job security I may have. However, I believe that these layoffs in the long-term are not manageable and that the industry will need a massive overhaul. Video games are starting to make more money than other forms of media, however the process behind making them contain many issues that must be addressed. https://lnkd.in/giuP4hC9

With all the layoffs happening in games, I think it is time we start to rethink how we approach our industry. First thing that I believe has to go: Elitism We have to stop segregating game devs based on the size of company they have worked at. The biggest difference in Indie/AA/AAA is the amount of responsibility an IC takes on. AAA = less responsibilities but more, way more content related to those responsibilities, work slower, more structured, bigger, more dense in general. AA/Indie = works smarter, leaner, more responsibilities but less of each, less staff to make things for you, less dense in features and content in general. The difference between a AAA level and AA/Indie when it comes to level design? None, it is the exact same process, with less money and less people that's it. I am pretty sure people are able to adapt to team sizes while remaining productive in their field. I have seen it, I have done it. Elitism is the gatekeeping device we do not need as an industry right now, or ever.

In the year 2023 alone, an estimated 10,000 employees in the gaming industry lost their jobs. Approximately 6,000 more are expected to join them this year. The article provides an intriguing glimpse, delving behind the scenes of the gaming industry. https://lnkd.in/eg-G9PPF #layoffs #gamingindustry