Despite hopes that the wave of layoffs in the gaming industry might be on a downtrend, the trend continues on. These were just hopes, and at this pace, we will surely enter 2025 in the same manner as previous years.
Airship Syndicate, the studio behind titles like Wayfinder, has announced on Linkedin a new round of layoffs impacting 16 employees.
In light of the difficult challenges facing our industry, we’ve had to make the tough decision to let go of some incredibly talented Airship team members, including 12 full-time employees and four contractors.
Earlier this year during a studio restructuring we both took pay cuts that are still in place today. In addition, we are both contributing personal funds to help Airship continue operating with our remaining staff.
Our team of 50 will stay committed to delivering the Wayfinder roadmap and developing future projects. We extend our deepest gratitude to all of our employees, both past and present, for their hard work and dedication.
– Joe Madureira (CEO) & Ryan Stefanelli (President) on Linkedin.
With this latest announcement, the total number of jobs lost in the gaming industry in 2024 approaches 12,700. We’ll stop evaluating the causes for a while because it can be anyone’s guess: corporate greed, heading into a recession, preparing for AI to achieve a “just good enough” state.
But it’s noteworthy how corporate communications around layoffs often echo the same sentiment and wording: “difficult decisions” and acknowledgments of “talented team members.” Kind of like a bad copy-paste.
While such language aims to soften the blow, it can do the opposite for those affected. Citing industry-wide challenges is another way of deflecting blame and making empty promises that “they had done everything, but you know, industry-wide challenges, global challenges, etc.”
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