This morning, Sony revealed that they will soon join the “trend” of layoffs that are currently a burning problem in the industry. In the official post, the company announced that it has “started reducing” its workforce. These cuts will impact many first-party studios PlayStation, including Insomniac Games, Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Firesprite, etc., with the biggest cut being PlayStation’s London Studio, which is currently completely closed. Jim Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, estimates that the layoffs will affect about 900 people, or 8% of the current workforce, and that many games will be canceled as a result.
Ryan wrote in an email shared with Sony employees and posted on the Sony Interactive Entertainment website: “We must step back, look at our business as a whole, and move forward, focusing on the long-term sustainability of our company and delivering the best possible experiences to our communities. The goal is to streamline resources to ensure continued success and our ability to deliver the experiences that players and creators have come to expect from us.”
Studios across the US and UK will be affected. Among them, London Studio, which developed PSVR games like Blood and Truth in 2019 and is currently developing a multiplayer game set in a fictional London, has been closed. On X/Twitter, Izzy Foley, Associate Artistic Director of London Studio posted about the closure: “I have nothing to say. I’m in tears”. Another recent tweet, from Hit Points by Nathan Brown, attracted attention by pointing out that just a few days ago, Jim Ryan attended a gathering at the London Studio to celebrate his impending retirement.
PlayStation Studios director Hermen Hulst wrote in another blog post: “We have reviewed our studios and portfolio, evaluated projects at various stages of development, and have decided that some of them will not move forward.”. These layoffs add to the list of more than 6,000 people the industry has laid off in 2024 from across studios large and small.
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