The issues game developers are facing in 2025 | IGDA interview

Game developers are among the most creative people on the planet, but they have had a tough 2.5 years with more than 35,000 layoffs across gaming. Some of those cutbacks were expected to ease by 2025, but we’ve seen 1,200-plus layoffs in the first quarter.

The troubles are so acute that, for the second year in a row, the Independent Games Festival host Shawn Pierre, assistant professor at NYU, started out with a plea for support for game developers during a difficult time. GDC usually draws around 30,000 people, but we’ll see what the official numbers are later. This show felt more sparse in both the side event locations, the show floor and the hotel lobbies. But there were crowded moments, like at Amir Satvat’s panel (moderated by me) on Thursday, the Animal Well presentation by a solo dev, and the fundraising panel ...