Gaming company tacitly refuses to hire employees over 35 years old, lays off workers after a certain age: 'The hiring manager openly told me that the candidate I wanted to hire was too old (she was 46)'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jan 3, 2026 10:00 PM EST

Discrimination can sometimes be subtle, and it's up to you to keep an eye out for it. It may not come up in obvious ways, but in sneaky ones. That's why you always have to be on the lookout for it, because it might creep up behind you. Certain behaviors also get ingrained in us in ways that we're not always aware of. Sometimes things just become a habit, and we don't question how or why. This can also happen over the course of a company's history. Maybe they adopt a few practices that seem fine at first but become problematic over time. The goal posts are constantly changing, and it's up to us to keep abreast of them. It usually takes someone new to point out all the things they could be doing differently. 

This is why it's important to keep diversity in mind while hiring. Diversity can mean a lot of different things, and they all have a way of making the workplace a little better. You want a vast array of inputs and opinions in the mix so you can make the best decisions. It takes a village to make something run smoothly. You would hate to rely on a narrow range of employee backgrounds. But some industries have their preferences, and they need to be called out on them. The person in this story brings up the question of ageism in the tech industry. We might think of tech as a young person's game, but young people have a way of growing up. 

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  • An older woman interviews for a job
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • It also doesn't mean that older people don't have a space in that industry. They bring valuable experience and perspective, just like their younger counterparts. Not to mention, age is a protected class. If someone doesn't hire you on the basis of your age, that's illegal. But some companies have tricky ways around these types of laws and will find any way to keep their hiring narrow. That's what happened in this story, where one worker called out their experience from the inside. Read on to see what commenters had to say about the situation. 

  • Age discrimination (over 35) in the gaming and tech industry.

    I worked for a very famous video game company, one that people still worship to this day. Every single year, ten to twelve people would be laid off, and it took me a while to identify a pattern that was hiding in plain sight. Those people were all above 35!
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • I sat in several interviews with the hiring managers. I remember a woman we interviewed five times and I was the only one pushing to hire her. She was brilliant, but she appeared to be over 40. I got written up for being problematic and for not being a team player because I went against the grain. Everyone else on the hiring committee said she was not a cultural fit. Another time, the hiring manager openly told me that the candidate I wanted to hire was too old (she was 46).
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • I no longer work for that company... not a single person I worked with ten years ago is still there. They've all been laid off and the company has hired younger people. So it's not like their roles have been removed.
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • I then moved to another famous company, not a gaming company, but a purely tech one. A super prestigious company that prides itself on diversity and inclusion. One with perks that puts candidates through countless rounds of interviews. One night, at a company event, the manager got tipsy and openly said that he doesn't want to hire women of color because they are bitter and problematic and they pose a legal liability. He also said that people over 40 don't do well in a fast- paced environment.
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • When I bring this up, people tell me, "Oh, no, they can't do that. It's illegal." Bullshit. They can find several ways to do that. They can simply not hire you and pretend it's because you're not qualified or you are not a cultural fit (another bullshit, meaningless expression). Or they can manage you out. Or they can set you up for failure. And good luck proving that in court.
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • Lastly, when people say, "I wouldn't want to work for a company like that" how the fuck are you going to pay your bills? Some of us don't have a choice. It's not like employers are throwing themselves at you. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and work for a toxic company simply because the alternative would be homelessness.
    via u/almorranas_podridas
  • A group of tech workers sit in an office with computers in front of them
    via Christine Erispe

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Commenters chimed in with their thoughts.

    tazzymun Just wait til you hit 50+
    via u/tazzymun
  • buttercrotcher 40 is the new 50s and 60s is the new 50s. Because healthcare costs the company too much. If there is a repeated pattern they should be reported. How long has it been? And I absolutely believe you.
    via u/buttercrotcher
  • Jtfgman I made the mistake of finally following my dream of making games and got my degree in my late thirties. Got one low paying contract job with no advancement, so I didnt re- sign. Now I cant find a junior position and Im stocking shelves at middle age. Best of luck out there, it sucks.
    via u/Jtfgman
  • mooseplainer You'd think older devs would be better hires as they cut their teeth on more primitive hardware, where you actually had to make compromises to make a great game. There's a video on YouTube about making Micro Mages, a home brew NES game that the devs
    via u/mooseplainer
  • challenged themselves to code on a stock NES cart that was available at release in 1985, where the whole ROM had to be 40 kilobytes. It really makes you appreciate the craft in making a fun game for that system.
    via u/mooseplainer
  • Though as a 41 year old, developers my age would have entered the workforce when the 360 was new, the ones who cut their teeth on the NES are in their sixties at the youngest, baring some teen prodigies who are only in their fifties.
    via u/mooseplainer
  • I think one less talked about reason 35+ isn't hired as often has less to do with energy and more to do with the fact that as you go through your thirties, your tolerance for bullshit drops precipitously. 40 year olds have the confidence to set boundaries with their team and their boss, and they don't like that.
    via u/mooseplainer
  • Vox_Mortem The only option is to build a game studio made entirely of devs and production teams who are all over 35. And then make really awesome single player games. I'm tired of playing games by kids that think multiplayer COD is the epitome of gaming.
    via u/Vox_Mortem
  • maydayvoter11 Age discrimination is real. I've personally experienced it. It's amazing how many young interviewers in the USA don't know about the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
    via u/maydayvoter11
  • lotus2471 Ageism in tech is brutal. Caught myself in an interview last year noticing how old a guy was, and he was younger than me.
    via u/lotus2471
  • hongaku LOL. Try being over 50! (54 year old former tech worker with 29 year career in tech.)
    via u/hongaku
  • rydendm i'm willing to bet it's the payroll issue. Corpo would rather higher fresh blood at lower salary than retain veteran talent at higher salary
    via u/rydendm
  • QuesoMeHungry I wonder if this will start to shift, because I'm noticing with younger generation and how they were raised with technology, many might as well be boomers.
    via u/QuesoMeHungry
  • KetoLurkerHereAg... My last company just settled an age-discrimination lawsuit. The person in question was actually completely toxic but management had mentioned their age in one of their one- on-ones so the morons left themselves wide open to the lawsuit even though the person was the complete fucking worst and that's why they were fired.
    via u/KetoLurkerHereAgain
  • TyrusX At my work we are not hiring anyone younger than 35 anymore
    via u/TyrusX
  • smallest table The only areas of tech that seems to be relatively free from ageism is support and management. From the CIO and the IT management team to network architect to the guy under the desk, if you are providing some level of IT support or management for a business or as an MSP, it's not something that comes up very often.
    via u/smallest_table
  • maydayvoter11 There is an issue in which people under 35 assume anyone older than 45 or so is a "Boomer," i.e., is set in their ways, unable to adapt, an imbecile with tech, etc. They don't understand that Gen X (who in 2025 ranged from age 45 to age 61) is nothing like the Boomer generation. Yet they lump Gen X in with the 62-80yo group.
    via u/maydayvoter11
  • TheDopplegamer I find that hilarious since, from my experience, tech literacy seems to be down. among Gen Z and Alpha. Maybe Im just being a crotchety 30-YO (techinally a millenial), but it sometimes feel like all the tech skills are gonna be hoarded by either us or Gen X
    via u/TheDopplegamer
  • Wonderful-Sea4215 You've got to go for different companies as you age. They're often not as sexy, but the money spends the same. Particularly in enterprise IT, look in all the "boring" sectors. For instance, I'm in my 50s, and work in Healthcare. It's packed with old bastards.
    via u/Wonderful-Sea4215

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