By Jamie Lang
2023 was a rough year for the animation industry, with studios, streamers, and tech companies of all sizes laying off significant numbers of workers. We remain hopeful for a robust industry turnaround in 2024, but thus far the year has started on a low note with scarce hiring and post-holiday culling at several media companies.
We launched a layoff tracker last year to monitor significant layoffs from across our industry and give workers a big-picture look at the animation, vfx, and gaming employment landscape. Due to the still highly volatile nature of the industry, we’re relaunching the tracker in 2024.
As was the case last year, we are only including layoffs that we’ve been able to reliably confirm and thus the true scope of layoffs in the industry is greater than those listed here. We rely on readers to help with the accuracy of this list, so if you have tips (especially tips with supporting documentation), please let us know.
Also, if you are currently unemployed and looking for work, we suggest following this spreadsheet with a constantly updating list of animation job listings.
2024 Animation, VFX, Video Game Layoff Timeline
February
February 29 – Electronic Arts: In its second major restructuring in as many years, EA shuttered Seattle-based Ridgeline studios, canceled games in development, and laid off 5% of its global workforce, or around 670 employees.
February 27 – Sony Interactive Entertainment: Sony is laying off 900 workers, or 8% of its workforce, at companies under the Playstation umbrella, including big-name devs such as Insomniac Games, maker of 2023’s mega-hit Spider-Man 2; Naughty Dog, developer of the hugely popular Last of Us franchise recently adapted as tv series; and Guerrilla, which develops the best-selling Horizon series. The company is also shuttering Playstation’s London studio.
February 13 – Paramount Global: The parent company of Paramount film studios, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central, is letting go of 800 employees, around 3% of its 24,500-person workforce, in an effort to return earnings growth to the company. Animation impacts are still to be determined, though early online reports suggest that the preschool learning brand Noggin will be strongly affected by the layoffs.
January
January 29 – Eidos Montreal: Eidos Montreal laid off 97 employees and canceled the development of a new Deus Ex video game as part of a larger restructuring by its parent company Embracer Group.
January 25 – Microsoft: Three months after finalizing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers from its Microsoft Gaming unit, 8% of the group’s workforce.
January 25 – Apple TV+ According to Deadline, Apple TV+ laid off eight people across its kids music, production, and development teams, a fraction of the overall staff. Although the number was small, the move was significant in that it represents a shift at the company which will now ramp up its own animated film pipeline after ending a previous deal with Skydance Animation.
January 23 – Riot Games: Game developer and Arcane producer Riot Games announced it will be laying off 530 employees, 11% of its global staff. According to a company blog post, the layoffs are “critical for the future of Riot,” and the company is planning to narrow its focus going forward.
January 11 – Pixar: On the same day that the studio’s latest feature, Elemental, received six Annie nominations, it was revealed that Disney-owned Pixar will be laying off a significant number of workers in 2024, but not more than 20% of its 1,300 person staff.
January 8 – Unity: Software developer Unity announced its fourth and largest round of layoffs since July 2022 when it revealed that 1,800 employees , a bit over 25% of its global workforce, would be made redundant.
