'I Stopped Believing in Myself': Game Developers Share the Human Impact of Over a Year of Mass Layoffs

I think at least part of it was the COVID games boom which led to many companies over-hiring, which seems to have proved unsustainable now that the bubble period is over.

It shows investors that the company is reeling in their spending to become more lean, leading to the perception of better profits. You'll notice that after most layoffs the share price increases.

Remember, the only product that's important to publicly traded companies is good investor sentiment, everything else is secondary.