Amir Satvat is the founder of Always Supporting the Gaming Community (ASGC), a community that helps people find work both inside and outside the games industry.
Per Amir’s data, the gaming industry added 4,000 jobs over four years, a 0.6% increase. At the end of Q1’26, when the report was published, the industry employed just over 754,000 people.
In the US alone, headcount fell 11.5% over the same period.
From 2022 to 2026, the industry hired 52,500 people while over 48,000 lost their jobs.
From 2017 to 2022, the gaming industry grew across nearly every region. Job growth over that period: Brazil +210%, Poland +150%, Sweden +88%, Australia +59%, UK +58%, Canada +48%.
Conservative estimates put new job creation at 150,000-250,000 during that earlier period. From 2022 to 2026: just 4,500.
From 2022 to 2026, around 288,000 people were actively looking for work in the industry: 225,000 recent graduates, 43,000 laid-off workers, and 20,000 career changers and self-taught candidates.
On average, there are around 5 candidates per hire. In the US, the situation is worse: 127,000 job seekers against 12,000 hires. A ratio of 11 to 1.
From 2022 to 2026, 6.4% of all gaming industry workers lost their jobs. North America was hit hardest, with 19.2% of the workforce affected. South America: 11%, Europe: 6.7%, Asia: just 2%.
Amir notes that throughout this period, the industry has had roughly 9,000-14,000 open positions at any given time. But the geography is shifting: opportunities in North America are declining while Europe and Asia are seeing more openings.
Amir projects 11,580 layoffs in the gaming industry in 2026, revised up from an earlier estimate of 10,681.
Unfortunately, the pace of layoffs in 2026 has not slowed. Year-to-date estimates have grown 44%.
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