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Comment by 8f2ab37a-ed6c | Hacker News Reader

The industry is not in a state where you can just go and get a better job right now. We’ve had three years of relentless layoffs and studio closures, worse than at any other time in history. There’s nowhere to go and US employers in games are disappearing by the day.

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They're suggesting the video game workers get a better job outside of the video game industry, as their talents would be better compensated elsewhere.

I agree as this is the main reason why I do not work in the video game industry.

I would love to work in it like many others but seeing friends get chewed up and spat out has dissuaded me over time.

> There’s nowhere to go and US employers in games are disappearing by the day.

It's an apocalyptic picture that's rather at odds with the unions claim that EA is doing fantastically.

There are a few employers who have effectively guaranteed revenue in perpetuity through what's known as "forever games".

EA's sports division prints money. Valve prints money. Call of Duty prints money. Valorant/League print money. Fortnite prints money. Roblox prints money. Their products have been around for 10-20+ years and will seemingly never die.

But that's not representative of the industry as a whole, and is not representative for the average game dev. See https://www.matthewball.co/all/stateofvideogaming2025 and others.

The other bit to notice about EA in particular is that its share price has been flat for the last 7 years, they've continuously failed to figure out how to change that, which is a problem. Selling and layoffs are a lever to get out of that hole, although it remains to be seen how great of a move it turns out to be.

Not at all, this is exactly what the unions are saying. EA is firing US employees despite being profitable. When they need to rehire again they’ll do it in countries where the wages are lower.