It's another dark day for the gaming industry as there is more news from . This time it is it destroys his studios. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) it is laying off around 900 employees from its PlayStation division, or around 8% of that department's workforce.
Insomniac (Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank), Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and Guerrilla (Horizon) are all affected by the cuts. These studios are behind some of PlayStation's most important franchises. For example, in three and a half months, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had sold 10 million units.
Sony's London studio, which worked on for PlayStation 5, shuts down completely, while Firesprite will also lose staff. Additionally, PlayStation will lay off employees from its technology, creative, and support teams.
PlayStation employees in the United States who lose their jobs will be notified today. Sony will follow local laws and regulations to carry out layoffs in other territories – the company says people in all of its global regions will be affected.
“After careful review and numerous management discussions over several months, it has become clear that changes need to be made to continue to grow and grow the business,” Jim Ryan told staff in an email. “We had to take a step back, look at our business holistically and move forward with a focus on the long-term sustainability of the business and providing the best possible experiences for our community. The goal is to streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and capacity. to deliver the experiences that players and creators expect from us. »
Meanwhile, Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, said that SIE management had evaluated its studios and portfolio and looked at projects that were in different stages of development. Some of these projects have now been canceled. Hulst didn't provide further details, but the projects that were canned surely include the one London Studio was working on.
“I want to be clear that the decision to stop work on these projects is not a reflection of the talent or passion of the team members,” Hulst said. written in a memo. “Our philosophy has always been to enable creative experimentation. Sometimes great ideas don't become great games. Sometimes a project is started with the best intentions before changes within the market or industry impact. result in a change of plan.”
Hulst also noted that SIE was re-evaluating its approach to delivering the type of expensive, blockbuster single-player games that PlayStation has become known for over the past decade, and balancing that with its desire to make long-tail multiplayer games. “Delivering the immersive, narrative-driven stories PlayStation Studios is known for, at the level of quality we aspire to, requires a reevaluation of how we operate,” Hulst wrote. “Providing and maintaining online social experiences – allowing PlayStation players to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices and mobile, requires a different approach and different resources.”
Sony is several live games and had planned to release 10 by 2026. At least one of them – – was put aside. However, the company has seen some success on the live services front, with becoming one of the biggest hits of the year so far.
However, he that Sony does not plan to release sequels for its major first-party franchises until at least April next year. It relies on third-party titles such as and the to help fill gaps in its own pipeline. The company also has for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. It plans to sell 21 million consoles in fiscal 2023, down from the previous estimate of 25 million.
This round of layoffs brings the total number of job cuts in the gaming industry this year to over 7,000 (we haven't even reached March yet). This is in addition to the more than 9,000 people who have been laid off in the industry in 2023.
Microsoft made sweeping cuts to its games division in January, . , , (which is adjacent to gaming instead of a gaming company), , Dead by daylight developer And are also among those who have made layoffs.