The gaming industry has shed 6,300 jobs in North America, or about 12 percent of the sector, since June 2008 according to Gamasutra. The stats come from the 2008 Game Developer Census; to arrive at that number, independent analyst Wanda Meloni took last year’s employment figures and then subtracted the job losses from indie studio shutdowns and rounds of layoffs at large companies like EA, THQ and Microsoft.

SEE ALSO: Recession Hammers Game Sales And Nintendo’s Stock

Worldwide, Meloni found that over 8,450 game-industry employees have lost their jobs. Not all that talent is evaporating into thin air, though. Many of these laid-off developers and business execs are scraping up resources to put out games on less expensive platforms like WiiWare and the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA).

Photo Credit: Frostey