I wanted to run a small survey on how the situation is going for other game studios. There are so many layoffs and failing releases here and there that I wanted to gather your thoughts.
TLDR & Key Numbers :
- Sample is a bit low (58 answers) so don’t take these numbers too seriously.
- Indies are in an okay-ish situation and feel confident it will get better in around 12 months to 2 years.
- For respondents in a position to hire, 70% of the hiring has been frozen.
- 70% of people think getting funding will be harder for their next projects.
- Respondents feel contract work is very hard to find.
The sample
TLDR : Mostly Europe because of my Network, around 58 answers is a very small sample so don’t take these data as proof & truth, they’re only trends.
The current situation
TLDR :
- People are still optimistic about the situation
- Their financial state is okayish, but not that great.
- 60% of people believe there are too many games being released. I honestly thought that would be 90%.
- Around 70% of people think they won’t find easy funding for their next projects. It feels weird that people are optimistic yet realize it’s a tough situation. It’s probably because funding is not the primary thing that matters for them.
- Contract work and B2B is very, very hard and it shows in this survey. Big companies have shut the outsourcing. This is not good.
“What do you think are the biggest factors for the current situation?”
I asked this to the respondents with a free-form text input. To sum it up:
- Correction from an over optimistic market.
- Inflation rates make money scarce
- Too many games
The future
TLDR :
- 50%+ of people think it will get better between 12 months to 2 years.
- I had to filter on this one, but for people & studios hiring, 70% of them have frozen hires. That’s huge.
- Studios are still making new games, but the investment in these is shy.
- Studios still love the tools and are optimistic on their evolution.
- People are very split (almost 50/50) on adapting their scope for lesser sales.
Additional answers :
- “A lot of studios are unprepared because they are managed by creatives or techies. Managing a company requires specific skills, which include anticipating and adapting to credit crunches.”
- “The quizz is too corporated, that is why most people fail”
So yep, our industry is still super-indie people and big companies shipping games on Steam as (almost) equal.
Thank you and let me know what you think of these answers.
If you want to reach out : tavrox@tavroxgames.com
