The past year and a half have been difficult for the gaming industry. In 2023, more than 9 thousand people lost their jobs, and in the first few months of 2024, another 6 thousand were laid off. However, as former president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Chris Deering advises, all those laid off should not worry, but simply “find a cheap place to live and go to the beach.” This was reported by PCGamer.

Dearing addressed the state of the gaming industry during an appearance on the My Perfect Console podcast. In his opinion, the layoffs are not due to greed on the part of executives, but instead “it’s just an over-exuberance that was kindled and fueled by the knock-on effect of the pandemic and the supply chain restrictions that followed.”

“”It’s still where the action is, and it’s like the pandemic but now you’re going to have to figure out how to get through it: Drive an Uber or whatever, go off to find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year. But keep up with your news and keep up with it, because once you get off the train, it’s much harder,” Deering said..

There is some sense in Dearing’s words, especially in his reasons for the mass layoffs. As Mezha analyzed in our article about mass layoffs in the gaming industry, the pandemic plays an important role. Over the course of several years, many people who had remained locked in their homes began to spend much more time playing games and spending more money, which caused a boom in the gaming industry itself and required studios to hire more employees to develop new projects and support existing ones.

At the end of the pandemic, when the demand for games decreased, many studios were left in a disadvantageous position, with profits falling, but new employees already hired. This resulted in massive layoffs, such as the case of 1,900 employees at Microsoft. Sony studios were not spared either, as the company laid off more than 900 employees.

Nevertheless, the former Sony president says he is optimistic about the future of the laid-off people. In his opinion, the industry will recover, and this may happen even faster than expected. He also believes that the severance payments that the laid-off workers received were sufficient to get them through the difficult times, and by the time these payments end, the situation may have stabilized.

Also, according to Deering, game developers should worry not so much about layoffs as about cheap labor from poorer countries and artificial intelligence, which can help in development and replace some real people.

“What’s really exciting about the industry is you never get a chance to be depressed. What you have to do is—things jump out in front of you and you deal with them just like any game. So get over it!” says the former president of Sony.

Chris Deering was the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe from 1995 to 2005. In 2003, Deering received the BAFTA Interactive Industry Award for his contribution to the gaming industry. During his time at Sony, he saw the release of PlayStation and PlayStain 2. In particular, his marketing skills are considered one of the key elements of the success of both consoles.