Hello everyone, today's post is something a lot more personal than my usual posts. With all the recent layoffs in the past year in the gaming industry, I've had a weird feeling that I just couldn't quite understand. With this week's news of back-to-back layoffs, the number of people affected in 25 days of 2024 has already reached more than half of the total (reported) layoffs of 2023. I finally wrote down how I really feel about all of this, and I wanted to share it to the world. I struggled a lot deciding if I should go public with this. I'm not looking for anything other than to just share how I feel. I'm sure that I'm not the only person that feels this way and while not everyone shares publicly their feelings, it's always comforting to know that you're not the only one feeling this way. Anyways, here's how I've truly felt about the industry for quite a while now:
It's disheartening to see the industry of your dreams, the motivation behind studying your university degree, behind all your professional dreams and hopes, crumble beneath its own weight. How can it be possible that a multi-billion-dollar industry, which is also the biggest entertainment industry in the world, be such a terrible workplace. From any angle that you look, there is a horror story warning you to stay clear and stay away from the industry if you want a peaceful life. Either the drenching crunch stories that end up at best in fatigue and/or burnout. Or the constant feeling for minorities of not fitting in or being diminished (something that happens at large in the tech industry). Or having to get out of bed and go to work every day not knowing if it's the last day you'll set a foot in the company of your dreams, being cut off access, without warning, to everything that you've poured every drop of your soul and passion for the last days/weeks/months/years. It's just awful to think of all the scenarios that are happening to thousands of people throughout the industry.
How can this industry bring so much hope, dreams, and entertainment to billions of players worldwide, but not be able to treat the people behind decently? How am I supposed to feel when all that I want is to be part of this industry, to be part of creating all the wonderful experiences that I've enjoyed since I was a little kid, to give back and bring joy and happiness through the beautiful art form of interactive entertainment. How am I supposed to feel when everywhere I look, everything I see, everything I hear, screams back at me to stay away. That no matter how hard I try, how much I do, how much I eventually put into this industry, it will eventually turn its back on me without any hesitation. That I will never truly feel safe, that I will never feel like I truly belong here. Because that's what it's telling everyone that is already part of the industry. From indies to AAA developers, from people that have just gotten their first "gig" to (war game industry) veterans with years, even decades, of experience, no one is safe.
So, what should the hopes be for someone like me. Someone who is just starting his professional career. Someone without industry experience. Someone who has dreamed of being part of this horrendously amazing industry for the majority of his life. Should I feel grateful that so far, I've been rejected in every attempt I've made to be part of the industry? That I should give up on everything and accept that it will never be sustainable to live off something that you're really passionate about? Is this just a curse of working in anything related to the arts, to slowly succumb to the weight of entertaining the world while you give up your personal life?
I really hope that the industry gets back on its feet and starts treating the people involved decently. My thoughts go out to everyone that has been affected by any of the problems of the industry.
Top comments (4)
Hey,
Just hang on dude. Video game industry, like many industries, are cyclic with cyle time of 5/10 years. It will start again in a few year. Meaning you will probably face 4 or 5 crisis waves in your carreer.
Furthemore, waves of layoffs are are highly publicized, but even during layoffs there are still open positions (not so many, but there are). There are also other industries that goes well, and that use video game technologies for serious gaming or data visualization.
For example, VBS is a serious FPS dedicated for militaries and public services. Where I live, there are a few startups that use VR devices for medical threatements. SLB, my company, use Unity for 3d data visualization. They even have a center in California that do user training using VR.
I was graduated in 2009, the famous "year of subprime crisis". The job market was catastrophic and I was very anxious of not finding a job. I ended up doing OpenGL and 3D visualisation all day long for cancer reasearch in a small company 😋. Then, I worked on OpenInventor render engine. Now I'm full time on Unity for geologic data visualization.
Open your mind. If you don't find a job in video game, try to find a job in similar domain, gain experience, and go back to video game in a few year when the market is more favorable.
I would welcome more opinions from the industry, but I think it's been long known that the games industry is not a great place for technical people. I think it's down to the high supply of developers, because games are cool, who wouldn't want to work on them? That means companies can be different to the rest of the tech industry and demand a lot from their hires. Long hours, terrible pay, lack of diversity... but hey, you got to work on a game, right? I'm not sure that equation does add up to a good quality of life or great career.. so maybe it is something you do while you're young and don't realise how much you're being screwed. And maybe companies are playing on that too. It wouldn't surprise me if a practice of [the bigger] companies is to hire when they're trying to get a game completed, then fire everyone straight after.
Thanks for sharing ❤️
its not just the gaming industry, its all of the tech industry right now. i have kind of been trying to pivot away from tech work honestly.