Gaming Industry HR Professionals Seek Greater Support from Studio Executives Amidst Layoffs

The 2025 GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, held at the Royal Institution in London, brought together over 60 industry leaders and studios to share their experiences and insights. The event's keynote speech, delivered by Sega Europe's Chief People Officer Nicky Ormrod, alongside Simon Court and Dan Bobby of Value Partnership, focused on developing a strategy to drive Sega's growth. Other notable discussions included a talk by Gina Jackson from Skillfull and Liz Prince from Amiqus on the importance of interdisciplinary expertise in the industry's current transition phase, as well as a discussion on the impact of AI on work culture led by Niki Head and Chiara Santevecchi. The summit also featured workshops, such as one hosted by Next Jump's Kevin McCoy and GameDataCore's Simon Sparks, which explored ways to enhance team performance with limited resources. For those who missed the event, GamesIndustry.biz will release videos and summaries of the presentations in the coming weeks. The GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit remains the only UK event dedicated to HR professionals in the video game industry. However, a significant point raised during the event was the lack of representation of HR professionals at the executive level. The final session featured a wrap-up workshop where attendees discussed the need for HR success stories to be shared with the media and the importance of having a seat at the decision-making table. Many attendees expressed frustration with management, feeling that their voices are often not heard and that they are not involved in key decision-making processes. This has led to a call for greater dialogue between executives and HR professionals, with the hope of creating a more inclusive and effective decision-making process. The GamesIndustry.biz team will consider how to address this issue in future events, but for now, HR professionals are encouraged to share their concerns and start a conversation with their management.