2023 was a tough year for game developers
Considering that there was news that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was released in May 2023, sold just under 20 million copies, it seems like 2023 was a good year for the gaming industry. However, it has been pointed out that there were actually many layoffs, and it was a difficult year for developers.
Closing out 2023 - Game Industry Layoffs - Obsidian Publish
2023's great games were overshadowed by a dark cloud of layoffs - The Verge
According to a document called ``Game Industry Layoffs'' published on the writing platform Obsidian Publish, the game industry has experienced a rampage of personnel reductions that have continued since around the end of 2022.
Various reasons have been cited for the layoffs, with Unity said to focus on core services and ByteDance because its CEO is not interested in games, but these are common among companies undergoing large-scale layoffs. The reason for this is that the company has been actively expanding by investing a large amount of money in M&A over the past few years.
The total number of personnel reductions carried out in 2023 is said to be an increase of 22% compared to the previous year.
By the way, a major move in the game industry in 2023 is Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard.
Microsoft finally completes acquisition of Activision Blizzard - GIGAZINE
Behind the scenes of this large-scale acquisition, Microsoft is reducing personnel in its game division, and it seems that Activision Blizzard, which will be completely under its umbrella and change its structure in 2024, will not be able to survive as it is.
In addition, Unity fired 3.8% of its employees in November 2023 due to a 'company reset,' but new personnel reductions are expected to occur in 2024. It is unclear how large the layoffs will be.
In addition, ByteDance, the company that operates TikTok, is planning to sell its gaming division, Nuverse, by mid-2024, but they were unable to find a buyer for the originally planned $4 billion (approximately 566 billion yen), and now It is said that he is looking for a partner for 1 billion dollars (about 141 billion yen).
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