Sega of America is laying off 61 staff on March 8, 2024 as job losses continue to devastate the video game industry.
As reported by GI.biz, the employees affected currently work across two locations at Sega’s Irvine, California campus, with 12 being laid off from one office and 49 from another.
The job losses come just a few months after workers at Sega of America voted to unionise under the Communications Workers of America, forming AEGIS-CWA. According to this group, who made a series of posts on X/Twitter in response to the layoffs, workers across quality assurance and localisation departments were affected.
A few months ago, Sega management announced their plan to outsource QA and part of Localization in a move that would significantly impact our workforce.
(1/5)
— AEGIS-CWA 💙 #UnionizeSEGA (@takesAEGIS) January 31, 2024
“A few months ago, Sega management announced their plan to outsource QA and part of localization in a move that would significantly impact our workforce,” AEGIS-CWA said. “We’ve been fighting back on these terms since then, but today the layoff that will result in the loss of 61 jobs across these two departments was made public.”
AEGIS-CWA said it was able to double the number of saved jobs and offer severance to its temporary workers, but despite this believes the layoffs “will have a negative impact on the working conditions of those who remain with the company, and in the quality of our future games”.
The brutal video game industry layoffs which tarnished 2023 have crept into 2024, and IGN learned Microsoft is cutting a colossal 1,900 positions from its video game workforce on January 25.
Industry layoffs are currently among the worst in history, with myriad other studios of all sizes affected. Dreams’ Media Molecule, Cyberpunk 2077’s CD Projekt Red, F1 Manager’s Frontier Developments, and Assassin’s Creed’s Ubisoft all suffered layoffs. Destiny 2 developer Bungie was also affected, causing a “soul crushing” atmosphere at the studio that IGN learned about in an investigative report.
Colossal companies like Embracer, who owns the likes of Borderlands developer Gearbox Software and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro also saw sweeping job losses. Embracer laid off 5% of its workforce, amassing to 904 staff in total, Epic laid off 16%, or 830 employees, and Hasbro cut close to 20%, meaning around 1,100 staff.
Entire studios were also closed, including Embracer’s Campfire Cabal and Saints Row developer Volition Games, plus the studio behind TimeSplitters Free Radical.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
