US and UK â??worst affected by industry layoffsâ??

71 per cent of all game industry layoffs last year occurred at US-based companies, according to new data.

A study by entertainment analysts M2 Research claims that the game industry as a whole was hit by some 11,500 layoffs since ‘late 2008’.

With the US representing a striking majority of those layoffs, Europe was revealed to be the second-hardest hit region.

Game industry layoffs in Europe represent 13 per cent of global workforce reductions, with that figure driven by redundancies in Britain, which make up 81 per cent of European losses.

Canada, meanwhile, represented 2 per cent of global job losses.

Japan was the hardest hit country in Asia, with the continent itself representing 12 per cent of global reductions.

“We believe the worst is over in terms of layoffs and there is definitely growth and new hires out there,” the study claimed.