2024 has passed, and the gaming industry continues to move forward in a challenging environment. Nearly 25,000 people have lost their jobs in the past two years, and many developers and publishers have experienced personnel adjustments. Gaming giants including EA, Ubisoft, PlayStation and Xbox are not immune to this trend. However, one gaming company seems to be doing well during this period, successfully avoiding layoffs. Despite the widespread threat of layoffs, Nintendo has been virtually unscathed over the past two years.
In comparison, layoffs at companies like EmbracerGroup are more severe. Although layoffs are becoming more common in the industry, Nintendo has never appeared on the list of affected companies. In fact, Nintendo has made few large-scale layoffs in 2023 and 2024.
Here are the companies most affected by layoffs over the past two years:
EmbracerGroup (7890 employees)
Unity Technologies (2,900 employees)
Microsoft Gaming Division (2,880 employees)
Sony (1,475 employees)
EA (1,470 employees)
Ubisoft (1,021 employees)
EpicGames (870 employees)
Take-TwoInteractive (630 employees)
RiotGames (562 employees)
Sega (438 employees)
Although Nintendo of America did lay off 120 contract employees early last year, the layoffs are considered to be to strengthen the company's strategic arrangements for global development plans. Therefore, this move is different from the large-scale layoffs of other giants and is far from comparable to their wave of layoffs.
Perhaps it is by adhering to the philosophy of late president Satoru Iwata that Nintendo has avoided the fate of the PlayStation or Xbox. Iwata personally cut wages in 2013 when Wii U sales were dismal to avoid large-scale layoffs at the company.