I Can’t Fully Trust Anywhere Now: GDC Report Finds 1 in 4 Developers Laid Off in the Last 2 Years
The Game Developers Conference has published its State of the Game Industry Report 2026, based on a survey of more than 2300 developers, aiming to capture how game creators are experiencing the market right now across layoffs, generative AI, business conditions, and career outlook.
As always with survey driven reporting, the report is not a complete census of the industry, and results can shift year to year as methodology and respondent mix change. Even with that caveat, the topline workforce signal is hard to ignore. GDC reports that 17% of respondents were laid off in the past 12 months, and 11% were laid off in the 12 months prior. Combined, that places 28% of respondents, over 1 in 4, experiencing a layoff in the past 2 years, rising to 33% among respondents in the United States.
The downstream impact looks equally severe. Among those who said they were laid off, nearly half, 48%, reported they have not found another job yet, including 36% of respondents who were laid off 1 to 2 years ago. That data point reframes layoffs from a short term balance sheet maneuver into a longer cycle of stalled careers, disrupted production experience, and lost domain expertise that does not easily snap back when hiring pipelines reopen.
Beyond the numbers, the report also captures how repeated instability changes how developers relate to employers and to the industry itself. One respondent summarized the human cost as feeling unable to fully trust workplaces after multiple layoffs over the past 5 to 6 years. Another described uncertainty about staying in games at all. In parallel, the next wave of talent is watching the market with anxiety: 23% of respondents expect more layoffs in the coming year, and another 30% remain unsure, which means a majority cannot confidently predict job stability even if performance is strong.
That uncertainty is bleeding into education pipelines as well. The report indicates 74% of game development students surveyed are concerned they will not be able to find a job, while 87% of surveyed teachers believe students will struggle to find work. That matters because the industry does not just lose headcount when layoffs hit. It loses mentorship density. Junior developers lose proximity to veterans who can transfer production instincts and craft standards. The teams that remain are frequently asked to ship more with fewer people, increasing the risk of crunch and burnout, which in turn can degrade quality and retention.
The report’s findings also land in a context where high profile companies including Ubisoft, Meta, Square Enix, Microsoft, and Amazon have conducted layoffs that ripple far beyond individual studios, affecting project continuity, community trust, and the long run ability to incubate new ideas. At an industry level, the business logic might optimize quarterly optics, but the creative and operational consequences can compound across multiple release cycles, especially when the market is simultaneously demanding bigger scope, faster iteration, and live service durability.
For players, the connection is direct even if it is not always visible. The games that stand the test of time are built on iteration, institutional knowledge, and stable teams that can carry a vision across years, not just milestones. When volatility becomes the default, the industry risks turning talented creators into short tenure contractors of circumstance, and that is a strategic problem for a medium that thrives on craft, cohesion, and long term learning loops.
Do you think the industry’s next real fix is unionization, stronger studio level profit sharing, better project scoping, or a full reset away from growth at all costs?
