🎮 The Gaming Job Market is Emerging from the Ashes

👋 Welcome, Jobseekers

In this week’s newsletter:

• 🎮 The Gaming Job Market is Emerging from the Ashes

• 📉 Indeed laying off around 1,000 employees / 8% in its second round of job cuts in two years

• 📰 Study Reveals No Financial Upside to Full-Time Office Returns

• 🔧 Apply to $100k jobs with 1 click using Jobsolv

📉 Layoffs

• Walmart is reducing its corporate workforce by hundreds of jobs, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources, and some employees have been asked to relocate to major offices.

• Indeed Inc. is laying off around 1,000 employees in its second round of job cuts in two years, Bloomberg writes. The move affects about 8% of the company.

• Vacation rental company Vacasa has laid off 13% of its workforce, Skift reports, or about 800 employees.

🎮 The Gaming Job Market is Emerging from the Ashes 🐦‍🔥

The global games market was forecast to generate $184 billion in 2023 — up 0.6% from the previous year and is now projected to grow to $205.7 billion by 2026.

While revenues remained high, pandemic over-hiring and AI-scaries wreaked havoc on the gaming job market this last year. Nearly 10,000 video game workers have been laid off globally since January 2023

However, here was an interesting byproduct of these gaming layoffs that that is now starting to bear fruit. A lot of the laid off talent in the gaming space came together and started their own studios which are now in a stage to ramp up their own hiring.

Gaming studios are looking for talent to build their next slate of games

Along with these smaller startup studios, the larger incumbents are seeing more games being green-lit which will call for a ramping up of talent moving into this Summer and beyond.

Jasmine Coppin, a senior recruiter at Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine said that “some of the most in-demand jobs in the gaming market are in software engineering.” So if you’re an engineer in traditional tech, it’s more than worth a look at what is available in the gaming sector.

a16Z taking a big bet on gaming

To further add fuel to this gaming job market comeback, Andrew Chen with a16z Games (investors in AirBnB, Coinbase, Instagram, you get the picture) announced in early April that he would be investing $30M over 45 days into the SPEEDRUN program.

“SPEEDRUN is A16Z GAMES’ early-stage accelerator for startups at the intersection of Tech x Games. We invest $750K in each selected company.”

They saw so much success with SPEEDRUN that they are now on Season 3 which kicks off in LA in 3 days. The effects on the job market from these cohorts will surely be felt through the end of the year.

Bay Area and Southern California have largest gaming footprint

If you are interested in finding a tech position within the gaming industry, and you also happen to live in CA, you’re in luck. The Bay Area and Southern CA have the largest gaming footprint measured by video game companies, college programs, and varsity esports teams.

Large gaming companies do exist elsewhere, but let’s take a look at some of the top for job opportunities right now. :

1. Microsoft Gaming: Based in Redmond, Washington, this giant leads with its Xbox series and extensive gaming services like Xbox Game Pass. - Job Board

2. Activision Blizzard: Located in Santa Monica, California, it's known for major titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch. - Job Board

3. Electronic Arts (EA): Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is famous for sports games like FIFA and Madden NFL, and popular titles like The Sims. - Job Board

4. Epic Games: Based in Cary, North Carolina, they are the creators of the massively popular Fortnite and the widely used Unreal Engine. - Job Board

5. Take-Two Interactive: Located in New York City, they own labels like Rockstar Games and 2K, developers of Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K. - Job Board

6. Bungie: Recently acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment and based in Bellevue, Washington, Bungie is renowned for creating the Destiny series. - Job Board

7. Twitch: Although primarily a streaming platform, Twitch, based in San Francisco, California, plays a significant role in the gaming community and eSports. - Job Board

8. Mythical Games: Situated in Sherman Oaks, California, this company focuses on integrating blockchain technology with gaming to create new forms of player engagement. - Job Board

9. MobilityWare: Based in Irvine, California, they specialize in mobile games and have been recognized multiple times as a top place to work in Orange County. - Job Board

10. Scopely: Located in Culver City, California, Scopely is known for mobile games and has made significant strides in interactive entertainment. - Job Board

📰 Study Reveals No Financial Upside to Full-Time Office Returns

A recent study published by the University of Pittsburgh on return-to-office mandates provides some insightful data that's useful as the workplace evolves post-pandemic. It highlights the lack of significant financial improvements from full-time office returns and notes a marked decrease in employee satisfaction, spotlighting the continued relevance and benefits of hybrid and remote work settings.

Key takeaways:

• Many companies saw no financial benefit from mandating full office attendance.

• Employee satisfaction significantly dropped with full-time office mandates.

• Hybrid and remote work models are becoming more embedded in company cultures, indicating lasting flexibility in work environments.

• Companies that push for in-office work might face challenges retaining talent.

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