The video game industry is experiencing a significant layoff crisis in 2026, with Bungie being one of the latest major developers to announce job cuts. Globally, over 3,700 verified job losses have been reported in the industry so far this year. When considering unverified cuts and undisclosed reductions, the total layoffs in gaming studios worldwide are estimated to exceed 4,000.
According to a report from TradingPlatforms, data indicates that layoffs in the broader technology sector have surpassed 143,000 in June. The United States has been particularly impacted, serving as the epicenter of video game industry layoffs in 2026, with around 2,153 confirmed job cuts, representing about 58.2% of the global total.
Epic Games, known for Fortnite and Unreal Engine, made one of the largest layoffs ever seen in the video game industry by cutting approximately 1,000 roles. Bungie, the studio behind Halo and Destiny, plans to lay off about 400 employees this summer. Additionally, several other established developers and publishers have announced smaller rounds of redundancies throughout the year.
France has also faced significant job cuts, with four French game companies accounting for hundreds of layoffs. Ubisoft, in a sweeping restructuring, announced around 680 layoffs across multiple studios. In Canada, at least 257 video game industry layoffs have been recorded, with nearly half coming from Eidos-Montréal.
Several gaming layoffs in 2026 have gone beyond workforce reductions, leading to the complete shutdown of studios. Cloud & SaaS companies have cut nearly 31,900 jobs this year, while E-commerce firms have eliminated almost 21,000 positions, and IT services companies more than 16,700. Social media platforms, enterprise software providers, and fintech firms have each shed over 10,000 workers.
