Skillsearch survey: 44% of games workers considered leaving after redundancies

Skillsearch says 44% of surveyed games professionals have considered leaving the industry because of redundancies. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the annual Salary & Satisfaction survey collected 1,000 responses across the UK, Europe, North America, APAC, and MENA between Nov. 12, 2025 and Feb. 24, 2026. The r/Games post was created on Apr. 18 at 13:51 UTC and had 550 score with 135 comments at crawl time.

The employment numbers are direct. 22% of respondents said they had been made redundant in the past year, while another 12% said they had been made redundant more than 12 months ago. The leading causes listed in the report were reduced investor funding, budget cuts, and a lack of projects. Only 35% said they or their studio had not been affected by redundancies, while 28% said their studio had cut roles but they personally were not affected.

Hiring recovery is uneven

Among workers who had been laid off, 45% had secured new employment. Confidence in those new roles was lower: only 27% said they felt secure. Job-search timing also varied sharply. 21% found work in less than a month, 33% took one to three months, 20% took four to six months, 19% took seven to 12 months, and 8% took more than a year.

The UK figure is especially severe. 76% of UK respondents said they will be job hunting outside the games industry in 2026 or are considering it. The report also flagged art, senior roles, companies with more than 250 employees, and people with 10+ years of experience as heavily impacted groups. AI is part of the same confidence problem: nearly half of game professionals are concerned about increased AI use, and 64% believe it negatively affects industry creativity.

Survey size: 1,000 respondents

Survey window: Nov. 12, 2025-Feb. 24, 2026

Industry exit consideration: 44%

Laid off in past 12 months: 22%