Is Game Development Dying?

There are mixed reviews from the industry specialists & the thousands of people laid off.

Game development isn’t dying as much so as it’s being murdered — attempted murder. We see thousands of layoffs, studios closing, and games canceling. Somehow, there isn’t a lack in game releases. Quick history: A few years ago many indie studios were acquired by triple-A studios. Then the pandemic happened and more people spent money on gaming — companies were over-invested. When the pandemic ended, sales and engagement leveled out to pre-pandemic numbers. They had to make up the costs somewhere and started closing those indie studios. I’m not fully blaming big gaming for the state of the industry; some indie studios without triple-a affiliations are closing. But the practices and diminished morals and ethics from the triple-A studios have a hand in what’s going on right now.

Since there is no lack in games released, it’s safe to say game development isn’t dying. It’s more likely that triple-A games are taking some hits.

While attending the Finnish Game Awards Gala, I learned Finland is pushing people to start gaming studios. ‘It’s the best time to start a game studio,’ said Jonne Taivassalo, senior advisor of Game Industry at City of Espoo.

Gamers and game developers alike are calling for a change. They want their voice heard, their opinion taken seriously, and their favorite games released! Just because a studio is closed, doesn’t mean that person will never make games again. They may not recreate the intellectual property (IP) because it’s copyrighted through a contract. If they made a danger once, they can make it again. It’s like when you’re writing, editing, and drawing something on a computer. The power goes out and your work isn’t saved. It sucks to redo it, but it’s going to be better this time because you have an idea and an outline. We still want what those developers of have to offer. If they decided to create another IP, there wouldn’t be a lack of support for them just because they were shut down.

The gaming industry has never been kind to Black women of any caliber or minorities for that. Many of us took it upon ourselves to carve out a space and create our work experience. Seeing the industry layoffs and the lack of ownership when consumers buy games inspired me to try to make games. Then hearing Taivassalo talk about how it’s a great time to start a studio affirmed it.

I don’t think my perspective is unique. I’m an adult who works in gaming as an entrepreneur. This doesn’t leave a lot of time to play games. Most weeks, I don’t have the capacity for something like Destiny 1/2, Warhammer 4k, or Persona. I’d like to create games that can be beaten in a week or weekend; something with high replayability. There are a ton of games like that: Figment, Journey, and Portal. I want to add to the collection. I started my game dev journey in the beginning of May 2024. I learned a lot about it. That’s also a reason I haven’t been writing. I like to focus my attention on one thing at a time so I can provide quality. But now I’m back! I joined a 33-day game jam by Melanated Game Kitchen and Black In Gaming. The BiG Byte Jam is my first game jam. The game I produced will turn into a full game. I had an amazing team. Here is the game: Tallawah

I’m so proud of my game. It looks nothing like I imagined and it was frustrating to make! Now that I have the game dev bug, it has corrupted me and I want more!

Vote for us via the Itch.io submission page.

1. Play the game here: https://itch.io/embed-upload/10574617?color=f0f7ee
2. Click on the Itch.io submission page Link
3. Sign up for Itch.io if you haven’t already
4. Click on Submissions Page link — it’ll take you to all the games
5. Click on Tallawah — the thumbnail like the one above
6. Scroll down to Rate this game
7. Vote

This is how you vote for my game! But click on Tallawah! I couldn’t rate my own game so I showed you an example.