Personalized job boards, AI tools, and honest market context based on your discipline and situation. 4 questions, one plan.
33% of US game devs laid off in past 2 years48% still haven't found work~50% referral interview rate
“Ever since 2020, when everything about making video games started to change, people have been waiting for business to get back to normal. This year, we’re adopting a new posture to accept these current market conditions as permanent.”
— Iron Galaxy Studios, April 17, 2026, announcing their second round of layoffs in under two years
v1.7, April 20, 2026
New section: Where Your Skills Transfer, discipline-specific breakdown of adjacent industries actively hiring game devs (defense simulation, automotive, film/VFX, product design, and more)
Market context updated: Iron Galaxy (up to 90, second round in under two years), AppLovin/Machine Zone (97), Polyarc Games (30, two-thirds of studio), Eidos Montreal (124 + studio head departure after 7-year project cancellation), Piranha Games (30%), Rec Room closure announced for June 2026
Iron Galaxy’s statement added to the intro as market framing: “accept these current market conditions as permanent”
Restructured intro as a proper landing screen with a single CTA, context first, wizard after you choose to start
v1.6, April 7, 2026
Market snapshot updated: Q1 2026 logged ~2,700 layoffs, the highest single quarter since early 2024
New pitfall: “Waiting for an Identical Role”, covers structurally contracting areas (manual QA, traditional art, generalist Unity dev) and where to pivot
Awesome People List (ex-Epic) added to Communities section, surfaces for recently laid-off devs
Godot tip added to action plans for entry-level and indie/freelance engineers and designers
v1.5, March 27, 2026
Sticky section nav on results page, jump between Action Plan, Boards, Tools, Pitfalls, and Communities with one click
Scroll spy highlights the active section as you scroll
Collapsible sections, top 3 results shown by default with "Show all" expander for each section
Visual section differentiation, each section has a unique accent color (teal for boards, purple for tools, amber for pitfalls, green for communities)
Color-coded stage badges on AI tools (Resume, Interview, Tracking, Portfolio)
Inline platform icons on community cards (Discord, Reddit, mental health, mentorship)
Share prompt after action plan to encourage sharing
"Run it again" prompt at page bottom encourages exploring different profiles
Animated wizard progress bar with step completion pulse
Improved card detail labels with amber accent styling
Share button with LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Reddit, and copy link
v1.4, March 25, 2026
New section: Communities & Support, 14 Discord servers, Reddit communities, mentorship programs, mental health resources, and professional organizations, scored and filtered to your profile
Community cards show type badges (Discord, Reddit, Mental Health, Mentorship, etc.) with direct join links
Take This mental health resources surfaced for recently laid-off developers
GameDevMap studio discovery tool integrated for relocation-focused profiles
v1.3, March 21, 2026
Copy Plan button: save your personalized action plan to clipboard
New challenge option: "Worried AI is replacing my role"
Time framing on action plan steps (This week / Ongoing / Within 30 days)
Challenge selections now shown in results profile tags
"Start Here" badge highlights top-ranked board and AI tool
Updated market data with latest GDC 2026 and Satvat tracking figures
Improved pitfall card language for clarity
60-second community survey with live public results
v1.2, March 20, 2026
Added Outscal to job boards (entry-level and international coverage)
Fixed duplicate LinkedIn link in action plan for senior profiles
Renamed from "Game Dev AI Job Search Guide" to "Game Dev Job Search Guide"
Simplified footer (cross-links now handled by site navigation)
v1.1, March 19, 2026
Action plan steps now link directly to recommended tools and platforms
Pitfall cards now include hyperlinks to resources mentioned in recommendations
Market snapshot sources linked to original reports
Added this changelog
v1.0, March 19, 2026
Initial release: 4-step wizard with personalized job board, AI tool, and pitfall recommendations
13 job boards scored by discipline, experience, and situation (now 14)
12 AI tools evaluated for game-dev-specific relevance
10 market pitfalls with honest assessments and concrete alternatives
5-step personalized action plan generator
Market snapshot with 2025-2026 industry data
Step 1 of 4
Q1Your Discipline
Select your primary discipline
Q2Experience Level
Select your experience level
Q3Your Situation
Select all that apply
Select at least one situation
Q4Biggest Challenges
Pick up to 3
Select at least one challenge
About This Tool
The Game Dev Job Search Guide is a companion to the Game Dev AI Guide. It helps game developers navigate the job search landscape with personalized, scored recommendations.
What it covers: 14 job boards, 12 AI tools, 11 market pitfalls, 14 community and support resources, a 5-step action plan, and an adjacent industries guide mapping your discipline to roles outside games. All scored and ranked by your discipline, experience level, and situation.
How scoring works: Every recommendation is matched against your profile. Boards, tools, communities, and pitfalls each have discipline, experience, and situation tags. The tool scores each item based on how many of your selections it matches, with special boosts for strong fits (e.g., ASGC for laid-off devs, ArtStation for artists, Take This for mental health support).
Philosophy: AI tools augment your search. They don't replace doing the real work. A referral from a former colleague is still worth more than 100 AI-optimized cold applications. No motivational fluff. Concrete, honest, practical.
Data sources: GDC 2026 State of the Industry, Amir Satvat/ASGC, Ashby Talent Trends 2024, 8Bit Gamedev Salary Pulse 2025, InGame Job Employment Survey 2025, Take This Mental Health in Games 2025. All URLs verified April 2026.