I understand that this is a great time of uncertainty for many people in terms of employment. Many have lost jobs or had their employment reduced in some capacity. For those who still have their jobs, it may seem like a logical choice to just hunker down and wait out the pandemic, I have seen some surprising amount of movement across companies, at least locally, in the video game industry.
In just the last two weeks, I was made aware of at least five people who left the company I work for. All five were pretty senior and for four of these people, they had been at the company for more than a decade. As far as I know, they all left voluntarily for new roles at new companies. I know where two of them went, both local studios, while I’m still trying to discern where the other three went.
I know it’s different for every single person and depends on many different factors, but at least from what I’ve seen, the pandemic has not slowed down job mobility in our industry. People continue to move between companies. It’s quite amazing to see and a testament perhaps to the nature of our work and the ability for us to do it almost anywhere.
I don’t expect this to be the last I hear of people moving, either away or to our local studios.