A new GDC survey paints a grim picture for gaming developer jobs, even as support for unionisation hardens.
One third of US video game industry workers say they were laid off over the past two years, according to a new survey run by the organisers behind the newly revamped Game Developers Conference.
Based on responses from more than 2,300 gaming industry professionals, with surveys “customised for each participant group, ensuring that developers, marketers, executives, investors and others answered questions most relevant to them,” the 2026 State of the Game Industry Report found that 33 per cent of respondents in the US were laid off in the past two years.
That figure drops to 28 per cent globally, which is still a large number of people being told the budget has feelings, too.
Half of those surveyed said their current or most recent employer has carried out layoffs in the past 12 months, because the industry keeps “restructuring” until nothing is left.
The report said: “Those at AAA studios were highly likely to have experienced layoffs at their companies; two-thirds of respondents at AAA studios said their companies had layoffs. One-third of people working at indie studios reported the same.”
It found that 82 per cent of US-based respondents support unionisation of game industry workers, with five per cent opposed and 13 per cent unsure.
According to the results, “Support was higher among workers earning under $200,000 per year (87 per cent), those who have been laid off in the past two years (88 per cent) and people younger than 45 (86 per cent). No respondents aged 18-24 were opposed to unionisation.”
The report lands ahead of the GDC Festival of Gaming, which runs 9 to 13 March 2026 in San Francisco.
This year, the organisers have reworked the Game Developers Conference into a renamed festival with extra programming tracks, because nothing fixes churn like a fresh badge and a bigger schedule.
