Things will continue to go downhill in 2024, at least that’s what industry insiders say according to games-industry.biz
It is a crisis that we are currently experiencing. Hardly anyone who observes the gaming industry will doubt this. Some even say it crystal clear – albeit anonymously. Our colleagues from GamesIndustry.biz According to their statements, they spoke to several managers.
Hope for a speedy improvement is quickly dispelled, But despite all the misery experienced and further predicted, there should be a small silver lining on the horizon.
2024 will be the year of closures
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Why is the gaming industry burning?
We don’t know exactly which senior corporate figures the website above spoke to, but if their sources are right, Piranha Bytes will only be the first potential victim of this year. The previous year had already seen more than 10,000 layoffs. And in 2024 this trend should continue seamlessly, but with a bigger ax:
If 2023 was the year of layoffs, 2024 will be the year of closures.
This doesn’t just mean developers, but even publishers, media companies or companies that provide support as service providers.
What about the freelancers?: A detail tends to be forgotten. Here we are always talking about permanent employees, i.e. people who work for a company as employees under an employment contract. However, freelancers from a variety of professions are involved in almost every gaming project out there.
We hear little about their fate, but we should not forget them. It can be assumed that these will also be severely affected by closures and discontinued projects. In most cases, freelancers do not receive any severance pay or are insured after the contract is cancelled.
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Games problem children 2023: winners and losers of the second half of the year
Where does the crisis come from?
See the sources a second year of pain
rolling towards the industry. However, the reasons for this are quickly identified and named: There are too many unprofitable companies and the market is shrinking healthily. The origin of this allegedly observed oversaturation was the pandemic years 2020 and 2021.
Have it [damals] too many games get the green light. We need to get back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of the number of releases. And that probably takes two years.
Silver lining on the horizon
But ultimately we are not talking about a systemic crisis, but only a temporary crisis that will come to an end. Because the foundations of the gaming industry are solid and even during this year, which will probably still be plagued by misery, we will see new studios being founded and investments – just at a lower level than in previous years.
We have already discussed the crisis in the industry many times over the past year, both via video and in various articles of varying lengths. You can find some examples of this linked towards the end of the article and embedded at the beginning. There you can read more about the background and effects of the crisis or, thanks to Michael and Heiko, listen to it while you’re at it.
