According to Satvat in his interview with The Game Business, North America experienced the most severe mass layoffs, accounting for 70-75% of all job cuts. The US state of California, in particular, was described as “the epicenter of the difficulty,” representing over half of global layoffs. “North America used to have 30%, 35%, 40% of the open roles, and that number is now down to 25%,” the expert notes.
At the same time, he pointed out that overall industry employment has actually grown since the pre-pandemic period, with Asian developers seeing a rise in jobs that has seemingly offset the thousands of layoffs in North America. With this in mind, he recommends that Western studios remain open to the idea of opening chapters in Asian countries, at least temporarily.