2025 is not the best year for the gaming industry. Although statistics show that mass layoffs have improved significantly, this still does not help many studios avoid layoffs and bitter losses. Gamesindustry.biz portal speak about what happened in game development over the past year.
Amir Satvat, director of business development at Tencent Games, runs a popular resource that helps people in the games industry find jobs. In recent years, they have also begun tracking and predicting layoffs, including numbers that are not publicly available.
So far, Satvat estimates there will be 9,175 layoffs in the gaming industry by 2025, compared to the 9,769 he predicted at the beginning of the year. Much less than the 15,631 in 2024, but higher than the 8,500 in 2022, when the current gaming industry crisis began.
Satwat estimates there will be 7,500 more layoffs in 2026, pointing to a slow recovery for the industry. But he believes the rate of job openings in North America and Western Europe will continue to decline.
According to a survey published in October 2025, 26% of games industry professionals in Europe lost their jobs in the past year, and average salaries have dropped significantly compared to 2024. The salaries of programmers, especially those working on Unity, have dropped by almost half, mainly due to the fact that there are no more vacancies left.
However, Satvat believes that the number of vacancies in the game development sector will increase in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Large investments are pouring into these markets, which many experts say indicates a geographic shift in the industry. If previously the innovation, creativity and commercial success of the US, Canada, Germany or Finland were discussed in professional circles, now they often talk about China, Türkiye, Israel and Vietnam.
At the same time, 2025 saw many existing studios close, including quite large ones, such as Monolith Studio. Ballistic Moon, the British developer behind the Until Dawn remake, has “essentially closed its doors” after laying off its entire staff. Splash Damage has also launched a consultation regarding redundancies affecting the entire team. Massive layoffs also took place at Hi-Rez Studios (Smite), Crytek (Crysis), People Can Fly (Bulletstorm), Jagex (Runescape), Starbreeze (Payday) and Heart Machine (Hyper Light Drifter).
Speaking specifically of the big companies, Tencent Games has made some cuts and reallocated resources between its European studios. Sumo Group announced in February that it was fully transitioning to supporting partner companies by selling publisher Secret Mode. And The Chinese Room, creator of Still Wakes the Deep and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, made the cut before announcing its return to independent studio status. In October, Funcom, known for Dune: Awakening, also announced restructuring and forced layoffs.
Another Asian giant, NetEase, confirmed that the US studio supporting Marvel Rivals will also be cut – and this news comes just hours before the big announcement that the game has reached 40 million users.
Microsoft also cannot escape the cuts. After a relatively small round in January, the corporation announced it would cut 3% of its workforce in May. But the biggest wave comes in July: it could affect up to 9,000 people, or about 4% of Microsoft's entire workforce. King, Blizzard, Turn 10, Raven Software, ZeniMax Online Studios and The Initiative have had to endure this – the studio behind the Perfect Dark reboot has completely shut down.
Sony, Microsoft's rival in the console market, has also restructured its workforce. The cuts were made to support studios Visual Arts and PS Studios Malaysia, as well as Bend Studio, creators of Days Gone.
Crystal Dynamics, owned by Embracer Group, laid off employees in March, August and November, shortly before announcing Tomb Raider: Catalyst at The Game Awards in December. Additionally, Eidos Montreal, also part of the group, is said to have cut some staff.
In February, Warner Bros. Games has announced the closure of Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros San Diego, as well as the cancellation of the long-announced Wonder Woman game. Monolith has been in business for over 30 years and is behind many iconic games such as No One Lives Forever, FEAR and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. And Player First Games is the developer of the famous fighting game MultiVersus; The studio was purchased by Warner Bros in July 2024, but the project was canceled in January 2025.
Electronic Arts has made some cuts at Respawn, the studio behind Apex Legends and the Star Wars: Jedi series; the group had to cancel two projects “in the early stages of incubation” and lay off 100 employees. On the same day, EA announced the loss of another 200 people and the suspension of the World Rally Championship series, leading to the layoffs of Codemasters.
But the most infamous event of the year was probably the wave of layoffs at Take-Two Interactive. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain has accused Rockstar Games of union busting after the studio fired 31 employees who were rumored to be trying to form a union. The decision led to protests outside the Rockstar offices and a collective letter condemning the cuts at Rockstar North, signed by 220 employees. Rockstar denied the accusations, saying the reason for the firing was due to the leak of confidential information. However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this was a “very worrying incident” and promised a cabinet investigation.
