There have been some very large deals in the video game industry over the past few years. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is of course the biggest, but Sony's acquisition of Bungie is at the top of the list, while smaller (relatively) deals such as NetEase's acquisition of Quantic Dream and Nacon's acquisition of Daedalic cannot be overlooked. And we, as outsiders, are not the only ones who are interested in the reorganization of this industry. And while we outsiders can debate the relative merits or demerits of this industry realignment, according to the GDC's latest "State of the Game Industry" survey, those actually working in the industry seem to be a bit nervous.

In 2023, the first year developers were asked about their thoughts on industry consolidation, 17% of respondents said they thought a "major acquisition" like Microsoft's purchase of Activision would have a positive impact on the industry. In contrast, in 2024, only 5% had such an opinion. The percentage of respondents who said that these acquisitions would have a negative impact remained nearly unchanged at 43% this year compared to 44% in 2023, and those who said they would not have a meaningful impact either way shrank from 7% in 2023 to just 2% in 2024.

This shift in attitude is understandable; 2023 was a brutal year for layoffs in the gaming industry, and there are still no signs that 2024 will be any better. While many of these layoffs have been attributed to over-aggressive expansion in the early years of Covid-19 (of course, most of the executives who made those decisions are still in their jobs), one respondent noted that Embracer Group, a Swedish holding company, has been in a multi-year acquisition spree One respondent pointed to a particularly egregious case in which the Embracer Group, a Swedish holding company that had ballooned into a gaming powerhouse through a multi-year acquisition spree, lost hundreds of jobs and closed several studios when just one investment deal (admittedly a very large one, but still just one deal) went bust.

"I think the recent Embracer debacle sums it up," wrote one respondent. Once a giant publicly traded company acquires a large portion of an industry, it inevitably creates redundancies and puts innovative, more "exploratory" studios in a position where they cannot generate sufficient profits for their shareholders."

Another respondent shared a similar but more acute sentiment: "Antitrust laws were enacted for a reason. The consolidation of wealth and power inevitably creates complacency, and management and shareholders disdain workers and consumers."

Forty-two percent of respondents took a more middle-of-the-road approach, stating that large acquisitions have "mixed effects" on business. Some survey respondents acknowledged that acquisitions are often positive overall from a business perspective, but not necessarily good for individual developers or for games that do not have large audiences.

"Obviously, there have been so many layoffs, and it's not good for the media to be concentrated under a big umbrella, as has happened at Disney, because it creates a certain homogeneity. 'A lot of products are competing on the same risk-averse and creative value pillars. There is less room for maverick up-and-comers and interesting one-hit wonders.

"It's not great from a competition standpoint," said another. 'But as a small company, it does have the attraction of wanting to be acquired because it takes some of the pressure off the management team, and in the short term, it makes financial matters less of a priority.'

Others focused on the creative impact of consolidation: one predicted a "design renaissance" in the not-too-distant future, with "AAA and corporate games being cut to the bone and a new wave of 'triple I' indies"; another said that small studios being acquired by a major being acquired would help "attract a larger audience and prevent franchises from disappearing," he said. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said he is "all in" on the idea of resurrecting old titles from Activision's back catalog in the wake of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. That possibility remains to be seen.

Concerns about the negative impact of acquisitions and consolidation were also reflected in the question about possible layoffs: just over a third of respondents said they did not expect layoffs at their company in the next 12 months.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed mixed views on what individual developers can do to protect themselves from the negative effects of dealing with large companies. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said the industry should unionize, up slightly from the 53% who favored promoting unionization in 2023, but support was clearly divided by age group: 72% of respondents aged 18-24 supported unionization, but this figure steadily declined as age groups increased, with only 29% of those aged 55-64 supporting unionization. . and only 29% of those aged 55-64 supported it.