Today, we’re talking about the state of the video game industry, which is honestly kind of all over the place.
Here in the US, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) — the big industry trade group — more than 212 million people played games last year, and they spent more than $47 billion on the games and the content inside of them.
After the next few days, almost every major game maker will have announced what’s on their slate for this year and beyond.
But behind the flashy trailers and release dates, there’s something of a crisis: tens of thousands of workers in every part of the video game industry have been laid off since 2022.
Huge global publishers and tiny indie studios alike are facing these financial pressures, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.
I invited Verge video game reporter Ash Parrish on the show to break this down and explain what’s happening in gaming and what these shifts — from a business, culture, and labor perspective — can tell us about what might happen next.
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