PlayStation announced that it will lay off more than 900 people and close one of its flagship studios. Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), made the final move before retiring from the company . The cuts will affect studios such as Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla and others , who will lose a considerable part of their staff.
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The manager confirmed the news through a publication on the SIE blog . Ryan attributes the layoffs to the changing economic landscape and the way they develop, distribute and launch products. The president of Sony mentioned that the video game industry has changed enormously and they must prepare the business for what is coming .
“We need to meet the expectations of developers and players and continue to drive future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we are prepared to continue providing the best gaming experiences to the community,” said Jim Ryan. . The executive, soon to retire, shared an email he sent to PlayStation employees announcing the layoffs.
According to Ryan, Sony Interactive will lay off 900 people, equivalent to 8% of the current workforce . The cut will affect all regions where PlayStation has a presence, however, the hardest hit is the United Kingdom. The company will close its London studio, founded more than 20 years ago , with the aim of developing original games for various PlayStation consoles and peripherals.
Although the London studio rose to fame for The Getaway – the GTA clone -, its work was consolidated with franchises such as SingStar, EyePet or the games to promote the launch of the PSP. His latest projects were VR Worlds and Blood & Truth for PlayStation VR.
PlayStation Will Cancel Some Games In Development
In a separate post, Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, confirmed that Sony will cancel some games in development .
“We looked at our studies and our portfolio, evaluated projects at various stages of development and decided that some of those projects will not move forward,” Hulst said. “Sometimes great ideas don’t become great games. Sometimes a project is started with the best of intentions before changes within the market or industry result in a change of plan.”
The layoffs and readjustments within PlayStation are aligned with Sony’s strategy , confirmed by its president a few days ago. During a call with shareholders, Hiroki Totoki stated that there will be no major releases during 2024 and they will adopt a multi-platform vision . The success of Helldivers 2 caused the Japanese company to leave exclusivity behind to opt for simultaneous releases on Steam.
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On this topic, Hermen Hulst said that launching games on PC and mobile requires a different approach and different resources . “PlayStation 5 is in its fourth year and we are at a stage where we need to step back and look at what our business needs,” he added. The former leader of Guerrilla Games confirmed that the Dutch studio will suffer cuts, as will Firesprite, responsible for Horizon: Call of the Mountain .
Sony’s announcement coincides with a cut at Supermassive, creators of the popular PlayStation game, Until Dawn , who confirmed that they will lay off 150 employees.
A statement from Supermassive Games. pic.twitter.com/9GkgIrYQvt
— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) February 26, 2024
The video game industry is experiencing one of its most complicated moments. Despite the great launches of 2023, the crisis in development studies will continue this year. A few weeks ago, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees from Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax and Xbox.
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