After soaring past an initial goal of $100,000, a Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle on Itch.io is now nearing $200,000 raised with seven days remaining.
The bundle has so far raised more than $163,000, and features 127 games for the minimum price of $10, with the proceeds going towards helping laid-off developers pay for everyday expenses. There are some bigger-name games included as well, including indie titles like Skatebird, A Short Hike, and Arranger.
It’s the brainchild of Necrosoft Games director Brandon Sheffield and United Videogame Workers, a CWA union benefiting game developers, who in response to repeated waves of mass layoffs in the past two years wanted to offer affected developers a lifeline.
“The game industry has a problem,” reads the bundle. “Too many people are out of work. Reports say 33% of the industry lost their jobs in the last two years, and the jobs they could fill are disappearing as CEOs try to replace them with AI. It’s hard for companies to adjust to the new shape of the game industry, but even harder for the people they should be employing.”
Developers in the United States and Canada are able to apply for aid from the fund for money to use on things like food, healthcare, rent, moving expenses, and more, with the funds being distributed by the union. More than 11,000 people have contributed so far, and while $10 is the minimum for the bundle, people are encouraged to donate more. One buyer contributed $5,000.
It looks to be making an impact. OneBGS, the Bethesda Game Studios union, announced the fund had helped cover a member’s moving expenses so they could return home after being laid off. The fund will still be live for another week and ends on August 13, with Sheffield hoping to double the amount raised by the end of the campaign.
The last six months alone have seen an unprecedented number of game industry layoffs. Massive cuts at Microsoft saw Xbox lay off 1,600 employees with another 1,600 cuts coming within the next year. Riot Games announced layoffs following the release of its League of Legends fighting game 2XKO. There have been significant layoffs at Ubisoft despite the success of titles like Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Sony even shuttered developer Bluepoint Games entirely earlier this year.
It’s not only larger studios that have been affected. Smaller developers are also being hit hard, ranging from Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM to a newly independent Double Fine.
