Understandably, many professionals are worried about whether they’ll be next on the chopping board. Meanwhile, those who lost their jobs are facing the tough reality of having to compete with many other talented individuals for new positions elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Kotaku reports that Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the hotly-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI, just announced wide-sweeping cuts. It plans to lay off 5% of its workforce (around 11,000 people).
Furthermore, it has canceled several projects that were already in development, valued at around $140 million.
Though many of us dream of working as video game developers, concept artists, or ‘idea people,’ the reality is far less romantic. Unless you work at a particularly ethical company that puts its employees above profit or you’re an indie developer, you’ll probably work long hours in a very demanding, competitive market.
Meanwhile, as the final project deadline approaches, you’ll also likely experience a ‘crunch,’ where the staff work extremely long hours, trying to iron out bugs and implement the remaining features before ‘going gold.’
Even if you manage to avoid burnout, you might end up being disappointed by the final result. After all, no single employee makes all the decisions. The higher-ups (aka the corpo ‘suits’) might force the developers to add features or details that prioritize monetization over mechanics.
Or the unrealistic deadlines and changes in course mean that you end up having to put out an unfinished mess of a game that will take years of patches and updates to fix. It’s definitely not all sunshine and rainbows in the grueling and gritty gaming industry.
What video game genres do you typically go for, dear Pandas? What are your top three video games of all time? Which of the memes we’ve featured in this list did you enjoy the most? What game are you playing in your spare time these days? What do you think of the recent video game industry layoffs?
We’d really like to hear your thoughts on everything. If you have a moment, share your opinions, experiences, and recommendations in the comments!
