September 2024 was one of the largest months this year in terms of layoffs. The games industry remains in turmoil as hundreds of professionals continue to lose jobs across the globe.
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
Game companies cut at least 1,009 jobs in September, according to the Game Industry Layoffs project. Below are the largest layoffs that occurred last month:
- Microsoft — 650 employees, inlcuding developers working on Warcraft Rumble and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile;
- Lost Boys Interactive — 139 employees (the studio, which provides various development services, employed over 200 people prior to the cuts, according to its official website);
- Tilting Point — 90 employees, or around 20% of its workforce
- Midwinter Entertainment — around 35 employees, the studio was shut down by its parent company Behaviour Interactive (it acquired Midwinter in 2022);
- Neon Machine — 35 employees, according to Game Industry Layoffs’ direct sources.
This brings the total number of layoffs this year to nearly 13,000, compared to over 10,500 for all of 2023. January was the largest month by job cuts, with over 6,000, followed by February (2,000+), April (1,000+), May (773), and June (632). The deepest cuts were made by Microsoft (almost 3,000 people), Unity (1,800), and Sony Interactive Entertainment (900).
It is worth noting that the total across the global games industry is likely higher as not all companies publicly disclose such information, and some reports lack data on the exact number of job cuts. For example, it is uncler how many roles were terminated at studios such as Midnight Society, Ouka Studios, Ballistic Moon, and Merge Games.