Video game industry layoffs and AI ethics are the top concerns for workers, a new survey shows

Every year, the Game Developers Conference releases its State of the Game Industry report – a survey that surveys thousands of game developers about the industry and their own work. It’s no secret that 2023 has been a challenging year for the video game industry, even after major best-selling game releases like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom And Baldur’s Gate 3. Independent, community-driven estimates suggest that more than 10,000 game developers may have been laid off last year, up from more than 8,500 workers in 2022. Thousands of employees at video game companies and adjacent workplaces have already been laid off in 2024 as the industry grapples with how to move forward .

The GDC investigation included much, much more than just layoffs; In the 37-page report, GDC researchers analyzed data related to generative AI, accessibility, demographics and return to office mandates, as well as other topics.

Layoffs in the video game industry

GDC researchers found that a third of respondents faced layoffs by 2023, and half of the more than 3,000 respondents feared more would follow. The reasons cited by workers included “post-pandemic course correction, studio conglomeration and economic uncertainty,” the report said. While 2024 already appears to be outpacing 2023 in terms of the pace of job losses, Omdia research director Dom Tait said in the report that industry forecasts point to “steady growth” through 2027, meaning employment should continue must stabilize.

“The most striking observation came from job losses in the sector – obviously a pressing concern for many,” Tait said. “One of the insightful comments from developers on this topic was this: ‘Studios grew too fast during the pandemic.’ This statement is corroborated by data from the gaming industry, which shows a COVID-induced increase in additional revenues in 2020 and 2021, which collectively amount to around $50 billion above expected figures. But 2022 and 2023 saw a return to the pre-2020 spending trend line, so this workforce reduction is partly driven by companies adapting too late to the new, less positive market reality.”

He continued: “However, with the forecast returning to steady growth until 2027, this should provide a more stable picture for employment going forward.”

Generative AI

Last year, generative AI entered the conversation in a major way – and it’s clear that companies are already using the tool in the game development process. Nearly half (49%) of respondents reported that their company uses generative AI in some way; 31% of people said they used it personally. Twenty-three percent of people said their studio wasn’t interested in generative AI at all.

Typically, generative AI is used in business and finance departments, as well as community, marketing, and public relations departments. The Quality Assurance, Art, Audio and Story departments reported the least AI usage, at less than 16% at the highest level. However, indie studio employees were the most likely to report using AI; People interested in AI said they want to use it to “help with coding and speed up the content creation process,” and to perform repetitive tasks.

Despite that interest, four in five game developers are concerned about AI ethics, albeit to varying degrees. Here’s what the survey said:

While developers seem unsure about the impact of generative AI on the industry, they are quite confident about its ethical impact. A large majority (84%) of developers said they were somewhat or very concerned about the ethics of using generative AI, while 12% said they were not concerned.

Developers shared a range of potential issues regarding the technology. Some worried whether the use of generative AI could lead to more layoffs at gaming companies. Others raised concerns about how the tools could fuel intellectual property copyright infringement, and whether makers of AI tools would train their models using data obtained without the creator’s consent.

Games adapted for TV and movies

In 2023, a slew of games were turned into movies or TV shows – The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Five nights at Freddy’s, The last of us, And Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves are just a few. Ten percent of respondents said their studios’ games will be adapted to other media, while 20% discussed the idea. Six percent of respondents were approached. On the other hand, 44% of developers said they are not considering it.

Many game developers think the rise of customization is a good thing for the industry: 63%. Twenty-six percent are not sure and 4% say no. Seven percent had no opinion about this.

“Hopefully it will bring more audiences to games and therefore more money for better development,” said one developer. “I also hope that developers learn from the unionization efforts in the film industry and adopt these practices to make the industry more lucrative for developers.”

Accessibility

More good news for video game accessibility: 48%, nearly half, of video game developers surveyed said their companies have made accessibility changes to their current games – up from 38% in this category last year. The share of people who answered no also fell from 32% to 27%. Some of the options that game studios are adding, ranked from highest percentage to lowest, are closed captioning, a colorblind mode, control remapping, custom audio settings, customizable difficulty levels, content warnings, a high-contrast mode, voice narration, aim assist, text to speech, accessible hardware/controllers, dyslexia friendly fonts, screen magnification, different game speeds, phobia accommodations and quick event toggles.

Union support

Support for unions continues to grow, with 57% of respondents saying gaming workers should join a union. (That’s up from 53% last year.) Twelve percent said no, while 22% weren’t sure. “Narrative designers were the most likely to support unionization, while those working in business and finance were the least likely to support it,” the report said.

Younger workers were also more likely to support unionization efforts. This is what the report says:

In terms of overall union support, one of the most notable factors we found was the age of developers: 72% of 18-24 year olds said they support unionization, compared to 28% of developers aged 55 and over. The trend is consistent across all age groups: from the oldest to the youngest, each group was more supportive of unionization than the last.

When asked to share their thoughts, many respondents cited the increase in layoffs, the crisis and massive media acquisitions as evidence that the gaming industry should unionize. Those opposed expressed frustration with the idea of ​​forced participation, and with the way collective units could affect the individual employer-employee relationship.

Diversity efforts

GDC researchers asked game developers about their experiences in the industry to analyze how diverse the workforce is. The data is dismal: White men make up 92% of people working in the video game industry, and 87% of employees with more than 21 years of experience in the industry. The survey did not have non-male respondents who met that experience threshold and were also of black, Hispanic, Latino or Hispanic descent, the survey said.

Here’s more:

This year we wanted to take a closer look at the demographics of those who have been in the gaming industry the longest: the decision makers who have been part of the gaming industry for decades. Based on the research, we found that men make up a large majority (87%) of game developers with 21 years or more of experience in the games industry, and that white men make up the largest demographic group overall (92%) .

When we looked at individual groups (by race and gender), we found a small percentage of Asian men (15%), men of Hispanic, Latino, or Hispanic descent (8%), black men (6%), and white and Asian men. women (5% each) indicated they had twenty years or more of experience developing games. There were zero black women or women of Hispanic, Latino or Hispanic descent in the survey who reported the same.

Over the years, white game developers in the industry make up 65% of respondents; Hispanic and Latino game developers are represented at 9%, followed by East Asian game developers, South or Southeast Asian developers, and then Black, African, or Caribbean developers. The industry survey found that two-thirds of game developers surveyed were men, while 23% were women and 5% were non-binary.

Related to this, GDC researchers asked about diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at companies and found mixed results:

About 90% of respondents said their company’s DEI efforts were at least somewhat successful, up from 96% in 2023. The number of developers who said these DEI efforts were not at all successful rose to 11% (from 4% in 2023). ).

Developers were asked to elaborate on the successes or failures of their company’s DEI policies: most discussed the shortcomings. According to an analysis of open responses conducted by our partners at Omdia, some of the most pressing concerns include a lack of resources and training, an increase in mandatory return-to-office policies, and an inability to recruit qualified, diverse candidates. to attract.

There’s a lot more to the GDC survey, which can be found in full on the GDC website.