Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "GAMING'S 2026 LAYOFF CRISIS: WHY HIT GAMES AREN'T SAVING JOBS"

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠Dive into the ongoing turbulence in the video game industry with this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, where Analytic Dreamz examines the wave of layoffs sweeping through major studios in March 2026.As of mid-March 2026, the industry has seen approximately 1,700–2,000+ job losses year-to-date, following over 9,000 in 2025—lower than peak years but still deeply impactful. GDC 2026's State of the Industry report reveals 28% of global developers laid off in the past two years (33% in the U.S.), with half reporting recent cuts at their companies.Key March 2026 developments include:Ubisoft's Red Storm Entertainment (March 19): ~105 layoffs, ending game development at the 30-year-old studio known for Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell. It shifts to global IT services and Snowdrop engine support amid Ubisoft's cost-reduction restructuring.Crystal Dynamics (March 19): 20 layoffs across development and operations, part of repeated cycles (prior rounds in 2025 totaled ~67). Major projects like the next Tomb Raider remain unaffected, reflecting ongoing "optimization" under Embracer/Saber.Warner Bros. Games Montréal (March 13–16): Undisclosed layoffs impacting narrative, level design, production, and more—linked to corporate instability from the Paramount–Skydance acquisition and post-acquisition efficiency reviews (following 99 cuts in 2024).Electronic Arts' Battlefield studios (early March): Significant but undisclosed layoffs across DICE (Sweden), Criterion (UK), Ripple Effect (California), and Motive (Canada). This follows Battlefield 6's record-breaking 2025 success as best-seller with millions sold quickly—highlighting that commercial wins do not guarantee job security, driven instead by realignment for live-service sustainability. Broader drivers include post-pandemic over-expansion corrections, soaring AAA costs, investor profitability demands, live-service shifts, and rising AI adoption (36% reported). Patterns show success-independent cuts, studio pivots from full development to support roles, micro-layoff cycles, M&A instability, and growing unionization pushes.Analytic Dreamz unpacks how these layoffs signal structural realignment—lean operations, centralized tech, and live-service focus—rather than a temporary downturn. Even blockbuster franchises fail to shield teams, underscoring workforce volatility and calls for stronger protections in a contracting landscape.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard, promise me you'll tell them to subscribe for free content. Now, just imagine that you just made a new studio, right? And, you know, there's a lot of anticipation built up around this release. Safe to say, the Game Awards may have shown it first. Shepard. All right, let me get to the point. Basically, you put out the live service shooter, you know what I'm saying? Analytic Dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with

the audio. Why? Well, you got to come over to the video version to see why I said that. So back to my point. You put out the live shooter and launched, you know, late 2025, early 2026 technically to poor reception. Hold up now. You guys. And you want to know what the studio did because of that poor reception shut down the whole studio. You guys. See, that's the problem. Not only was it a week after launch, but basically they sent, Wootenito. And to, you know, to the whole player base. Woot they do.

They say, y'all want us to give you some time to see if it's going to actually live on the marketplace? Won't they do. And they shut down the website. The LinkedIn, gone. All of it, nowhere to be found. Mm-mm-mm. Shepard. Just look at the state of gaming.

Like, what is going on? Example number two, ladies and gentlemen. You're over at Microsoft making a magnificent game, right? You think the quality is through the roof. Consumers playing the game not only are loving the gameplay mechanics, but they're also loving the music. Critically acclaimed back in 2023, right? But for some reason, Microsoft decided

all the critical acclaim in the world could not save you from the inevitable. Almost as if Thanos, oh no, almost as if Microsoft was Thanos himself. Shepard. All right, my fault. Let me get to the point. Basically, Microsoft closed down the studio that made a magnificent game called High Five Rush.

And obviously, we're not clapping it up for Microsoft. We're clapping it up for Tango GameWorks for making such a magnificent game called High Five Rush. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard me correctly. After being critically acclaimed in 2023, Microsoft closed the studio in 2024 amongst broader Bethesda cuts. Mm-mm-mm. Saddened history. But then there's more.

The best-selling game of 2025. The best-selling game of 2025 achieved record-breaking launch sales. I mean millions in days. a strong live service performance out the gate and guess what they was rewarded with just guess what they was rewarded with okay one last time let me get straight to the point EA effectively cut

multiple jobs multiple people lost their livelihood multiple studios was affected more specifically dice in Sweden criterion in UK Ripper Effect in California Motive in Canada basically all of the success in the world

did not stop these people from losing their job. Why? The world may never know. So last but definitely not least Battlefield 6 Bestselling game of 2025 still cannot

avoid and maneuver around the wrath that we're calling the layoff pandemic in the video game industry. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Now, the reason of all those examples, ladies and gentlemen, is because of course we're about to get into the entire gaming industry

because you know over here, we get into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. But safe to say, something else is notoriously affecting the masses in such an egregious way that I had to point it out. I just don't like it, man.

And I just don't like you. I just don't like that shit, man. That's what I just said. Anyways, basically, ladies and gentlemen, we are going through one of the worst layoff pandemics for the video game industry of all time. And if you think I'm being, you know, if you think I'm exaggerating, let's just look up the numbers, right? At number one, what do we have? 2024, ladies and gentlemen, with a whopping 15,000 plus total layoffs in a video game industry.

And then, you don't even have to go too far. And number three, the third slide is 2025 with 9,000 plus layoffs. And of course, number two is 2023 with 10,000 plus layoffs. Now, why is this trend occurring? Because, of course, in the year of 2026, it's way too soon to say it's going to be up there in the top five. It's already in the top five, but it's going to be up there in the top four, top three. The main thing I wanted to let you in on is why this is occurring. Because, of course, everybody and their mom is getting laid off, right?

So why are we just focus it on the video game industry? Well, because over here, you know, once again, I get into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. But right now, safe to say these layoffs or notoriously affecting game developers that could be working on your favorite game. Because once again, the layoffs do not discriminate. You can make a game as magnificent as Battlefield 6 as Hot Fight Rush and still get laid off. So anyways, the reason why I say that is because I think the main

plot twist for the gaming industry is when the post-pandemic happened now of course a lot of people saying that during the pandemic it was not a great time which objectively speaking for human mental health and things of that nature definitely was not but for the gaming industry they was they was bringing in cash like none other right it was basically a bandemic in the video game industry so post-pandemic developers found out we're not retaining the amount of quote unquote new normal engagement that we were seeing during the pandemic and once the player base stabilized and basically flatline in 2024 studios left with no other choice but to have unsustainable no no basically to have a crazy amount of cuts because of unsustainable head counts

and bloated, quote unquote, bloated budgets. But then you come to realize, is that a lie? Because EA is making Buku money from Battlefield 6 and he still laid off people. So anyways, the second reason that a lot of people are saying these layoffs are happening. And we're going to get into the in-depth of the layoffs in the second. I just want to put, I want to give the solutions first or just the reasons why this is happening so we can find an easier solution. Because, of course, I do have a good amount of sources for game developers.

who got laid off. So anyways, the second reason for this is high interest rates and inflation. Now, of course, we're going to talk about politics over here, but as far as the higher interest rates making borrowing expensive, because if you don't know, if you're a young entrepreneur in a development space trying to fund a particular game that, let's just say has expensive taste, right? The game you're trying to make has expensive taste, meaning you have to spend the money to make that game possible. Well, now you have to borrow from people who actually have it. And not only are you under their guidance because they're giving you the money,

but also with the rates and inflation, it caused a lot of investors to demand immediate profitability over long-term growth. And this forced a lot of even profitable companies to cut staff to protect margins. Now, let's get into the third and fourth. reason quickly. So consolidate and the fallout. So massive acquisitions like Microsoft slash Activision led to redundancy layoffs as departments like HR marketing merged. Additionally, the collapse of huge deals, most notably the $2 billion Embracer Group deal triggered a domino effect in the studio closures. And lastly, we have the rising AAA cost where to produce a AAA game

that's visually stunning. It's usually around 2006, uh, 600 million plus which i call cap not going on to you crimson desert just launched in apparently now apparently objectively speaking what they said their uh run time was seven years and a hundred thirty million plus was their budget so if crimson desert let alone the a i a accusations if crimson desert can come out with a game looking like that with 130 million safe to say i think you could even if it's a way short a game make it under a hundred so that 200 to me to make it under a hundred so that 200 to million, that 200 to 600 million, I mean, maybe for a rock star-esque game, but if your game's getting into the 200, 600 million, it's time to start cutting the time, the time, it's time to start

cutting the overall development when it comes to graphics, because graphics is not the end-all, be-all. We want a great story, great gameplay mechanics, and the rest, you know, you can figure it out. Because back in the day, we didn't use to have realistic graphics and we still had intuitive gameplay mechanics that we still, that we still, you know, prop up in today's age. You know, I'm not trying to say any games, you know what I'm saying? Shepard. My fault, but you get, you get what I'm saying? Like, you know, not the greatest graphics.

But at the end of the day, still one of the greatest games of all time as far as the massive fiction trilogy. Anyways, without further ado, let's get into the reason for this specific segment because after talking about how this, you know, how last year ranks amongst the, you know, biggest layoffs in the video game industry after talking about the biggest causes for these layoffs let's get into while we're talking about it so at 2026 ladies and gentlemen which is this current year unless you're in the future which you know salute to those listening to notorious massifing in the future uh it's safe to say the total layoffs as far as January to March right

because we're currently in March have been around 1700 to 2,000 and then guess what I'm not going to line to you throughout my in-depth research because you know your boy takes his job seriously over here i found this website yeah now what is this you're looking at analytic dreams video of spotify to see the video along with the audio i'm not going to lie to you i don't even know what i'm looking at what they do i'm saying if you want me to explain what i was looking at who in the world made this website shepherd just look at the state of gaming like what is going on well obviously this person's trying to tell us what's going on because it says days since last gaming layoffs you know this remind me of the Hulk movie from the MCU but he's like counting the days that had passed

since he turned into the Hulk that's what this looks like because you click this right here right it's a whole clickable link and then what in the i know that ain't who i think it is i said what in the they got a whole list of layoffs and before you think it's just like oh i made it up they got actual sources you can click on to go directly to the the layoffs they're talking about isn't that that is insane. But then, you know what I'm saying? I was like, damn. So if you thought these layoffs

was just a fake thing and they was laying off bots, these are real humans, keeping track of these layoffs, because guess what? It's affecting real people in the gaming community, and safe to say it's best to band together because only as a collective can we make the changes needed

to make a better future for game developers out there. And with that being said, I did have actual sources going back to what I said earlier. So the United Video Game workers the UVW CD I can't talk CWA is an industry-wide direct join union launched at 2025 so they was you know they was basically like enough is enough and open to employed freelancers laid off slash indies focuses on standards contract sources of as far as CWA GDC announced so I guess this was

a GDC announcement so shout out to them which is a game developer conference if you didn't know So once again, if you're going to look this up, if you're a game developer, they got laid off United Video Game Workers. Just look that up and you'll find it. The second source you can use. Game Workers Unite, which is a grassroots international network. And of course it's pre the United Video Game Workers. And then you have others such as the Alphabet Workers Union. Let's see.

Yeah, I think that's basically it. So anyways, with that being said, I didn't want to give some solutions to people who got laid off because there's no laughing matter. getting back into layoffs so a thousand no uh 1700 to two thousand jobs lost so far in twenty six twenty five of course you already know made it to the third worst layoffs in the video game industry with over nine thousand plus jobs it's actually insane um twenty twenty six of course is lower but you know only three months in i'm not hoping that it gets up into the top three i'm just letting you know because of course over here we try to talk about things that notoriously affect the masses and the layoffs is definitely one of

Now, one of the other things I wanted to touch on is the GEDC, which if you don't know, is the gaming developers conference that just happened. So basically, 28% of global developers reported layoffs in the past two years. 33% of U.S. developers affected. 50% reported recent cuts at their companies. You guys. See, that's the problem. Now, some more in-depth research about the reasons why they was laid off is, of course, the post-pandemic over-expansion correction,

um, rise in AAA development costs, which we've seen with EA completely is false because the bestselling game of 2025 and you're still laying off people, it's safe to say somebody's line, right? Investor pressure for profitability. And a lot of higher-ups at these companies want to shift. I swear you can't make this stuff up.

I just don't like it, man. A lot of these higher-ups that companies want to shift towards live service models and AI integration. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? I think sometimes you look at the gaming industry and you just think to yourself, man, can it get any worse than this? So anyways, ongoing mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring

also is why layoffs are currently occurring. And the corporate focus is on efficiency, despite strong revenues. In translation, we found. on AI, we don't care about the actual humans working on our product. I mean, that's just plainly. I know it may come off as harsh, but over here at notorious mass effect, you know, hey, I'm back by myself, you know, independent, so I'm able to call it like it is, you know what I'm saying? And call it like I see it.

As when you look at these major gaming conglomerates, they see AI being more efficient. And they could care less about the humans losing the livelihood. and that is just a sad day in history. So anyways, getting into some of the developers in the past 20 days that have been going this route as far as, you know, laying off people for no reason. Ubisoft. Ubisoft laid off 105 employees. No, the studio known for Ghost Recon, of course, Rainbow Six, of course, Splinter Cell. They've laid off a bunch of people.

Game development has been halted for certain studios. and studio remains the studios that remain open but shifts is a global some studios remain open but they shifted toward global IT services and snowdrop engine maintenance which was used in the division so as far as cuts in the past I mean they've had 169 cumulative layoffs across recent years so 105 employees being laid off March 19th is actually insane so that's one of the people I wanted to highlight because of course when you look at Ubisoft, I've covered them February 1st, 2026, and, okay, y'all already talked about their layoffs in depth. But when you look at Ubisoft and Assassin Creek Shadows becoming Ubisoft's second highest-selling launch day title, which I covered March 25, 2025, essentially speaking, going back to my battlefield 6 point, even if you put out a successful game, you're still likely to get laid off because why?

the world may never know Woot they do And we beat these folk Woot they do we beat them We go forward So after releasing the second highest Selling launch title with Assassin Creed

Shadows They still laid off 105 employees March 19th So anyways Crystal Dynamics When it comes from Crystal Dynamics

They basically laid off around 20 employees Cross development plus support roles And they have a pattern of laying out people, 17 jobs in March 2025, 30 jobs in November 2025, 20 jobs in March 2026. It's almost as if a lot of gaming developers are gearing up to have little to no workers because, of course, AI is becoming so prominent in a development cycle, which is why a lot of people have the views they do on the usage of AI.

let me just leave it like that also when you have warner bros we already got to well no we haven't got to them so warner bros of course they're going through their acquisition with paramount which you know shout out to paramount being that one ex that finally got the uh finally got their turn shout to them you know paramount was out here acting like uh that one person outside the window with the boom box saying baby take me back you can blame it all on me that's how that's how paramount was acting towards warner bros and they finally got them so hopefully they do something with them as far as Paramount acquiring Warner Bros, I think Warner Bros should have went to Netflix route. But as of right now, what are you going to do about it?

Paramount was about to go under themselves. And now somehow because of, you know, the owners having his daddy's money, they was able to acquire Warner Bros. So we're going to see how that goes. But they also are going to lay off people via multiple LinkedIn posts. The layoffs are undisclosed, of course. But the reason we know that laying off people is because of the LinkedIn post. So we don't know the amount, but of course with the acquisition of paramount is probably going to be a lot more laid off because of the efficiency review that's bound to come. And of course we have EA after Battlefield 6 became the best selling game of 2025.

They could kill less laying off millions of people. I said millions. My fault. Laying off. That was exaggerating. Let me see. Oh, my fault. I meant to say Battlefield 6 selling millions in days.

but they still laid off people. Of course, once again, undisclosed, but when it comes to EA, laying off people after having the most successful game in the video game industry in the year of 2025, it's just, you know, safe to say, it's a saddened history. You guys.

See, that's the problem. Now, of course, when it comes to Sony's Blueprint game, 70 employees were infected as far as layoffs. Industry-wide, I think this showcase that no matter how much success you have in the video game industry, you can still be laid off. It doesn't matter if you have the most successful game in the year of 2025.

It doesn't mean if you have a successful niche game. In the example of High Five Rush, you know, shout out to that studio. That was just completely disbanded by Microsoft. Was it Microsoft? Let me make sure I give. Yeah, Microsoft closed the studio in 2024 amongst broader, but there's the cuts. And of course, Highgar was just a failure. The reason why I started off with that is just to let you know that no matter from failure to absolute success, you can still get laid off.

So if you don't get anything from the segment, success in the video game industry means nothing. You can still get laid off. Now, when it comes to shifting away from full development studios, I think the main thing to look at is people going from sort of engines like Unity and trying engines like Snowdrop. I think that's going to be interesting as far as seeing how that actually helps the video game industry. I'm not saying it is or it's not, but it'll be interested to keep an eye on that. Now, of course, when you look at the workforce volatility, I think the main thing when it comes to workers creating a better space for themselves is banding together as far as the union. And that's why I pulled up the site right here. That's why I pulled up the Syagel kept to you.

Like, it's not funny. But this site literally shows you. You can, you know, you can type this in. I mean, hopefully I can see gaming layoffs.com. Can I see it? This is not an ad, by the way. I just found this through my research. So, you know, with this whole spreadsheet, people keeping track of layoffs,

obviously somebody had enough. And they're like, bro, let's band together. Let's keep track of these because it's just going to keep doing this any way, any which way they plays if we don't band together as a union. And usually, in my opinion, I think unions are the best way to have part positive change especially for something that is obviously profitable it'd be different if we use like some other industry where we're not making any type of revenue we obviously are the most profitable entertainment um industry in the world i think video games is more part the video game

industry is more profitable than music is more profitable than movies is more profitable than what what a timothy shallomay say the uh the ballet no disrespect to them i don't just basically I forgot what oh yeah he says something crazy about them but anyways the the ballet people like video game industry is the most profitable industry by far and to not have a union to go go against these type of things because I think they it was sag after or something I think those is a I think that was the writers guild I reported a union um strike one time I forget who it was I don't know if it was the video act video game actors let me see I see he's sag after sag

I got so many videos it's so hard to uh oh here we go okay so the sag after video game strike continued so I covered that December 11th 2024 I wonder how that's still going um obviously not well because you know 2024 uh was literally

the highest layoffs oh my goodness yeah that was the highest year that was that was the highest um layoffs ever so um I don't think that union went went well Shepherd, just look at the state of gaming. We should still try, though.

What is going on? Hey, what's going on is we should still try. We should still fight the good fight. Even though we got knocked down once. Hey, what did they say? Get up twice? Hey, that's kind of bad. Anyways, we should still band together

because they would have did us even worse if we didn't come together like we did. So the main thing is unionization, worker protections. I think that's the main thing that helps out a lot. And, of course, with the GDC conference showing a lot of, um high layoff no no basically the GDC showing a lot of support because of the high layoffs

I think that was a great conference once again if you don't know what the GDC was it's the gaming developers conference let me see when that happens so GDC I didn't cover it but obviously I knew I was going to talk about it here so I wanted to touch on it yeah so the gaming developers conference uh that essentially happened I don't know when it happened it just happened not too long ago

yeah March no that's for 2027 i forget when it happened it basically it just happened so um let's see 2026 so it happened march 9th through the 13th of this year so it just happened that's why i say like that uh that new let me see that new union that was talking about as far as uh the united video game workers so that was announced during the gdc announcements because they see all these layoffs so they give it actual what uh you know basically they're giving actionable items instead of just talking like oh we're so glad we're so sorry you lost your job they're actually given solutions so the united video game workers um one of the solutions they came up with because of the

the crazy validity the vault no volatility of the gaming unit uh gaming industry as of right now and of course with the AI integration um last time my check it was 36% as far as the adoption rate for every video game using AI uh that number is only going to get higher especially with people still being laid off. So the bottom line is, you know, 1,700 to 2000 is not a lot in totality until you realize with three months into 2026. So it is a lot. 2026 already is seemingly going to be one of the biggest years as far as layoffs in the video game industry. I do not want to, you know,

speak them to fruition. I'm just basically telling you the pattern of what we're going down and why is happening and what we could do to get around that. as you know a cover in the music and gaming industry i take that very seriously and i think you should too especially if you care about this thing we call gaming but that means it said i click my link to my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about the video game layoffs and of course what do you think about the overall problem that the video game industry is currently dealing with because of the use of AI and what do you think we can do to solve it