HISTORICAL FACTS: Video game memes - The Untold Story

We’d be lying if we said that we didn’t consider working in the video game industry at some point. Some of us still hold on to that hope, but things are getting tough for developers, artists, writers, musicians, and voice actors.

As excited as we are about the future of the video game industry, of course, it’s not just sunshine and rainbows.

Indie developers and AA titles seem to be thriving (Split Fiction and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 were global hits, and we adored them), but things are looking pretty grim on the AAA side of things. Consumers are getting the short end of the stick, too, what with hardware, software, and subscription price hikes!

Major companies are canceling massive projects already years in the works, left, right, and center, as their live service plans fail to connect with audiences.

Future projects are getting adjusted and readjusted because they no longer make financial sense. There is a growing sense of disconnection between large corporations and consumers.

Console prices are spiking. Creatives are scared of being downsized due to penny-pinching and gen AI. And talented game developers are getting laid off, well, pretty much everywhere, no matter if their projects are flops or resounding successes.

As Jason Schreier noted in a timely piece in Bloomberg, this is a turbulent time for the video game industry. He stresses that even developers working with global hits like Fortnite and Battlefield are losing their jobs. For example, Epic Games Inc., responsible for Fortnite, recently laid off over 1,000 employees. Meanwhile, over the past two years, over a quarter of the entire video game industry has been impacted by a layoff. While companies are still hiring, there aren’t enough open positions for everyone, and corporations often offer contract roles with fewer benefits. The idea of stability in the industry, which was always a bit of an illusion, is getting weaker.

The jaw-dropping reality is that working on a successful project is no longer enough.

“Companies all over the world have spent the last decade chasing the live-service dragon, wasting billions of dollars and tearing apart prestigious studios along the way. Meanwhile, even one of the most successful live-service games of all time can’t make ends meet,” Schreier stresses.

“It’s a scary time to work in the video-game industry, which is still in the thick of a downturn that began in 2023. The industry has seen dozens of studios close and tens of thousands of people lose their jobs thanks to a number of factors including swelling development budgets and an oversaturated market,” Schreier writes.

He points out that even if you are lucky enough to be laid off with a generous severance package (as was the case with Epic’s farewell to its talented staff), the future of your career is very much unclear.

“In this climate, as many unemployed game developers can attest, it can take at least a year to find full-time employment. Comb through game-dev LinkedIn and you’ll see the results: countless game workers, some with many years of experience, who have been job-hunting for months if not years. It’s a miserable game of musical chairs.”

“Typically, when video-game studios put sections on their websites for job listings, they use the word ‘careers’ — an implication of long-term commitment. Who could possibly believe that anymore? Even game developers at companies that seem secure are constantly feeling the anxiety that a surprise all-hands meeting could arrive at any time. In this turbulent era, many industries feel like they’re on the brink of widespread changes. Game development will undoubtedly be at the top of the list,” Schreier writes.

Meanwhile, consumers are finding things tougher than ever, too. Gaming, never cheap, has become a very expensive hobby in recent years.

For example, Valve has just upped the price of its two handheld gaming Steam Deck models by eye-watering amounts. The BBC reports that the 512GB OLED model will now cost $789, a spike of 43%. Furthermore, the 1TB model will cost $949, which is a 46% increase.

Though the Steam Deck price hikes make people physically cringe (hi!), Valve is not the only company increasing the cost of hardware and subscriptions.

Recently, Sony upped the price of its PlayStation 5 console by $100 in the United States. The company also raised the cost of its PlayStation Plus subscription in some regions.

Nintendo has also upped the price of the Switch 2 console by $50 to $499.99 in the US.

However, Xbox is bucking the trend. It lowered the price of its Game Pass subscription. There are two caveats, though. The sub price had been raised previously. What’s more, the recent drop in price comes at the cost of day-one access to new Call of Duty games.

There are many things to blame for these price spikes: inflation, hardware tariffs, and shortages of RAM. You can thank the AI data center boom for the latter.

The video game industry is utterly massive. In 2025 alone, the revenue from the worldwide gaming market reached around $522.5 billion. A huge chunk of this amount came from the mobile gaming market, which was responsible for a mind-melting $126 billion.

However, Statista warns that the industry’s growth rate is projected to slow down in the near future, despite these impressive, record-breaking revenues.

Meanwhile, SQ Magazine reports that the world had a whopping 3.578 billion (yes, ‘billion’ with a ‘b’) gamers in 2025, up 4.4% compared to 2024.

Currently, the Big 3 companies in the video gaming industry are Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, which dominate the console gaming market and are big hardware makers. These companies have a large infrastructure advantage, which gives them an advantage over their competitors. As per Statista, the Big 3 generated over $45 billion in quarterly gaming revenue.

However, that’s not the full picture. There are many successful companies producing and publishing games.

Tencent has been very successful with mobile and online games. Meanwhile, other huge players in the industry include Activision Blizzard (recently acquired by Microsoft), Electronic Arts (aka EA), Take-Two Interactive, Roblox Corporation, Ubisoft, Embracer Group, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, NCSoft, NetEase, and Nexon, among others.

The industry bounced back after the post-pandemic contraction, however, video games are becoming more expensive.

“Also, many publishers have gotten their audiences engaged with endless Games-as-a-Service (GAAS) titles,” Statista explains. “With countless hours invested in specific live gaming titles that receive a steady stream of updates, gamers are less likely to switch over to new titles during their finite gaming time. In turn, gaming studios have become more risk-averse.”

What is your relationship with gaming like? What were the first video games that you ever tried?

What soon-to-be-released games are you most excited about? Do you prefer indie, AA, or AAA titles?

What recently released games did you have so much fun with that it surprised you? Have you ever had to deal with gaming burnout?

Share your thoughts, recommendations, industry insights, hopes, dreams, and disappointments in the comments at the bottom of the post. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.