Industry Under Fire: 2025 Layoffs & The 2026 Slate [Nerfed.ai]

[00:00] Vanessa Calderon: Nerfed.ai, the industry layoff crisis. [00:04] Vanessa Calderon: Welcome to NerfedAI, where we track the pixels and the politics of the world's biggest hobby. [00:10] Vanessa Calderon: I am Vanessa Calderon, and I'm currently wondering if my 2026 bingo card had total industry collapse on it. [00:17] Vanessa Calderon: It has been a very heavy week for the community. [00:20] Marcus Shaw: And I'm Marcus Shaw. [00:22] Marcus Shaw: It's definitely a somber start to the year, but we're going to dig into the data and see what's actually left on the release calendar. [00:29] Marcus Shaw: If you want to see the charts we are discussing, you can find the full breakdown at nerfed.neuronnewscast.com. [00:36] Vanessa Calderon: Marcus, let's just rip the bandage off. [00:40] Vanessa Calderon: Variety just dropped the numbers on 2025, and it is a certified disaster. [00:45] Vanessa Calderon: One third of all video game workers were laid off last year. [00:48] Vanessa Calderon: One third. [00:50] Vanessa Calderon: That's not a correction. That's a purge of the very people who make these worlds possible. [00:56] Marcus Shaw: Wild. We're talking about thousands of talented developers, QA testers, and artists. [01:01] Marcus Shaw: The Variety Report really highlights that while revenue might be up for some, [01:05] Marcus Shaw: the human cost of these studio acquisitions and efficiency drives is just astronomical. [01:11] Marcus Shaw: It is a massive loss of institutional knowledge. [01:15] Vanessa Calderon: That is the problem. [01:17] Vanessa Calderon: It's that classic corporate move where the CEOs get a bonus for streamlining while the [01:22] Vanessa Calderon: people who actually know how to code a light cycle are out on the street. [01:27] Vanessa Calderon: It is frustrating. [01:29] Vanessa Calderon: How do you expect to ship blockbusters if nobody is left to compile the shaders? [01:33] Marcus Shaw: That is the technical bottleneck. [01:35] Marcus Shaw: When you lose that much experience, development cycles don't just slow down. [01:40] Marcus Shaw: They break. [01:41] Marcus Shaw: We are seeing projects that were supposed to be the back. [01:44] Marcus Shaw: of the mid-2020s suddenly looking very shaky because the core teams are not there to support [01:50] Marcus Shaw: the complexity anymore. [01:52] Vanessa Calderon: And yet, the marketing machines are still turning out cinematic trailers. [01:55] Vanessa Calderon: Which brings us to the GameSpot 2026 release schedule. [02:00] Vanessa Calderon: It is like looking at a list of survivors from a digital war zone. [02:04] Vanessa Calderon: Marcus, what are you seeing on there that looks like a real game and not just a wish list? [02:09] Marcus Shaw: Yeah. [02:10] Marcus Shaw: The 2026 slate is actually surprisingly dense. [02:14] Marcus Shaw: We have got the next major titles from some of the big hitters that survived the cuts. [02:18] Marcus Shaw: The schedule shows a heavy lean into established IPs, specifically sequels and remakes, [02:24] Marcus Shaw: because those are perceived as safe for investors right now. [02:27] Vanessa Calderon: Oh joy, another remake. Nothing screams innovative industry like playing a game from 2014 with slightly better shadows while everyone who made the original is looking for work on LinkedIn. [02:40] Vanessa Calderon: It feels like we are cannibalizing the past because the industry is too afraid of the future. [02:46] Marcus Shaw: I get the cynicism, Vanessa, but there is some tech worth being excited about. [02:52] Marcus Shaw: We are seeing more UE5 integration across the board on these 2026 titles. [02:57] Marcus Shaw: The fidelity is reaching a point where the uncanny valley is actually starting to look like a lush meadow. [03:03] Marcus Shaw: The visuals are striking. [03:05] Vanessa Calderon: Brutal, because lush meadows are great, Marcus. [03:09] Vanessa Calderon: As long as they are not empty because the quest designers were all downsized. [03:14] Vanessa Calderon: We need more than just pretty pixels. [03:16] Vanessa Calderon: We need games that are not built on the burnout of a skeleton crew [03:20] Vanessa Calderon: and actually deliver a meaningful experience to players. [03:24] Marcus Shaw: True. [03:25] Marcus Shaw: The variety report in the GameSpot list represent two sides of the same coin. [03:30] Marcus Shaw: One is the cost, the other is the product. [03:32] Marcus Shaw: We just have to hope the quality does not tank because of all the chaos happening behind the scenes at these studios. [03:39] Marcus Shaw: It is a very delicate balance. [03:41] Vanessa Calderon: Fingers crossed, but I am keeping my expectations at low poly for now. [03:47] Vanessa Calderon: That is our look at the state of the industry this week. [03:50] Vanessa Calderon: High stakes, low morale. [03:53] Vanessa Calderon: But we are still here for the games and the people who make them. [03:56] Vanessa Calderon: We have to keep supporting the developers. [03:59] Marcus Shaw: We will be watching those release dates closely [04:02] Marcus Shaw: and reporting on how these teams are handling the pressure as 2026 approaches. [04:07] Marcus Shaw: I am Marcus Shaw. [04:08] Marcus Shaw: Thanks for listening to our breakdown of the industry landscape. [04:11] Vanessa Calderon: That is it for today. [04:13] Vanessa Calderon: We will be back next week to track the latest pixels and politics in gaming. [04:18] Marcus Shaw: See you then, everyone. [04:19] Marcus Shaw: Have a great week. [04:20] Vanessa Calderon: And I am Vanessa Calderon. [04:21] Vanessa Calderon: Thanks for hanging with us on nerf.ai. [04:24] Vanessa Calderon: GG, everyone. [04:25] Vanessa Calderon: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [04:28] Vanessa Calderon: View our AI Transparency Policy at neuralnewscast.com.