Layoffs and closures. I don't know if anyone has an accurate number of the job losses suffered since the start of 2023 - see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (and yes, there were also plenty before then), but it's in the region of 20,000. Some of those come from restructures to save costs and others from complete studio closures.
Yet, and here's the whiplash, the last 16 months or so have been perhaps the best we've ever seen in terms of game quality. On the triple-A front we've had The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty, Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2, Mario Wonder, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 16, FF7 Rebirth, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, Lies of P, Starfield, Octopath Traveler 2, Dragon's Dogma 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and more.
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