Why do people want so badly to get into the games industry and keep returning to it with its reputation for abuse and layoffs? It seems self destructive, even by the "starving artist" bar.
The only reason people pay more attention to the game industry or entertainment industry layoffs than other industries is because that’s where they get their “fun” and they think that being part of that would make the job more “fun” to do and less of a job.
The public school system has been hit by countless layoffs and teachers are losing their jobs on the regular because of them.
Meta, Verizon, Google, Amazon, Corus, K&L Gates Lawfirm, Coinbase, Starbucks. American Airlines, Walmart, Atlassian, Citi Bank, EBay, General Motors, Groupon, Kenvue (otc medical company), Nike, Papa John’s, Target, Wix, Workday, Pinterest… and countless more are doing layoffs just as often and just as heavy, people just don’t “notice as much” because they don’t aspire to be part of them as heavily as they do “entertainment brand.”
We’re in a place where these companies, these industries, and “the people in charge” are making more money than ever but the average worker needs multiple jobs to be able to afford to be able to live.
Unemployment is high, pay rates for workers are low, inflation is out of control, media and news outlets are denying that we’re in a recession because “well it’s not technically” - meanwhile the average person is so stressed about “will I be able to live” and worrying about if “they’re next” when it comes to their own safety, security, health, employment, etc.
The only reason anyone knows about the stuff specifically in games or animation or Hollywood or whatever is because the average person uses these forms of entertainment as an escape from their own reality so they expect the work to be as fulfilling and fun as the fantastic tales they spin. When in reality it’s an industry of work just like any other.
All industries of work are filled with worker abusive, have mass layoffs, and prey on the desperation of working class individuals just as much as games/entertainment… you just don’t care as much about those other industries because you don’t idolize them the way you do with the industry I primarily work in.
You think me and my colleagues who have been hit by layoff after layoff after layoff in games and animation don’t look for work outside our own industries?
The job market is a joke everywhere.