March was a relatively calm month in terms of layoffs compared to the storm that hit January and February. However, hundreds of people in the games industry still lost their jobs.
Wyrdsong
According to the Game Industry Layoffs project, game companies laid off at least 628 employees. For comparison, over 2,000 jobs were cut in February and nearly 6,000 people lost their jobs in January.
When looking at the same period of 2023, the number of layoffs halved — from roughly 1,305 in March 2023. But keep in mind that the actual scale of the cuts should be higher than the estimated 628, since not all companies publicly share such information (e.g. Gearbox Entertainment, which laid off an undisclosed number of employees following the announcement of its acquisition by Take-Two).
Below are the largest publicly announced layoffs in March 2024:
- SEGA — 301 people, including 240 employees across its European studios (Creative Assembly, Hardlight, SEGA Europe) and 61 employees at SEGA of America;
- Deviation Games — 50 people, with the studio being closed (the team was working on a new IP for PlayStation);
- Velan Studios — 46 people (the studio is known for Knockout City);
- Smilegate Barcelona — 45 people, with the studio being closed (the team was working on an unannounced AAA console game);
- Something Wicked Games — 40 people (the team is working on fantasy RPG Wyrdsong).
In addition, ZA/UM laid off 24 employees, reportedly canceling an unannounced game codenamed X7. Other studios that made job cuts last month include Certain Affinity (25 people), FrogSong Studios (25), Spearhead Games (31), Happy Volcano (8), Eggnut Games (15), and more.