The game industry is broken – can we fix it?

The video game industry is experiencing its worst crisis since the 1980s, with nearly 60,000 jobs lost over five years despite overall revenue growth, driven by out-of-control budgets, studio closures, and a dramatic slowdown in industry expansion compared to the previous decade. Industry experts are proposing solutions including adopting Japanese-style workforce practices that prioritize staff retention and smaller, leaner teams rather than pursuing costly live-service trends. While new hiring continues at 18,000-25,000 positions annually, the net job losses suggest the industry will likely need to contract from its current size before stabilizing.