As a counterpoint, there are a lot of game programming positions open everywhere, and studios are having a real hard time filling them. Yes, there is more competition than non-games roles, but programmers are still programmers - valuable and rare.

If he's a good programmer he shouldn't give up. If he's job hunting, tell him to spend a good two weeks learning C++ and build a couple of dummy programs, then start applying for roles and continue to work on his C++ in the background. It'll come.