Games Industry

Employment

Survey 2025

26% experienced layoffs in the past year, with game designers, artists, and QA specialists hit the hardest.
Marketing professionals lead the trend, with 24% switching to other industries — the highest rate across all roles.
15% have been job hunting for over a year — or are still searching.
At the junior level, 39% exited the industry in 2024–2025.
Among programmers, 18% say it takes a year or more to land a new role.
13% left the games industry entirely in the past year.
When changing jobs last year, 28% accepted worse terms — either a lower salary or a lower position.
Only 1% of respondents are interested in developing hyper-casual games.
Salary remains the top priority when choosing an employer for 87% of professionals.
Half of all respondents report experiencing professional burnout.
41% have a personal project on the side, most often programmers, game designers, and artists.
QA specialists are the most skeptical about AI: 24% neither use it for work nor plan to — the highest rate of any role.

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What Is This Study About?

Total responses in 2025 — 1,650
56% male, 25% female, 19% other
8% Junior, 24% Middle, 35% Senior, 29% Lead/Top
21% have over 10 years of experience in games
Top countries: Cyprus, France, Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom