PlayStation lays off hundreds of employees and cancels several games in development

Game console announced that more than 900 people will be laid off and will close one of its iconic studios. Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), has made his final move before leaving the company. Abbreviations will affect studios such as Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla and others.s, which will lose a significant part of their staff.

The manager confirmed this news with a post on the SIE blog. Ryan links layoffs to evolving economic prospects and how they develop, distribute and launch products. Sony President noted that the video game industry has changed a lot and They must prepare the business for upcoming events..

“We need to meet developer and player expectations and continue to bring future technology into gaming, so we’ve taken a step back to make sure we’re ready to continue delivering the best gaming experience to the community,” said Jim Ryan. A soon-to-be-retired executive 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 workforce current. The reduction will affect all regions of PlayStation’s presence, but the UK will suffer the most. Company will close its London studio founded more than 20 years agowith the goal of developing original games for various PlayStation consoles and peripherals.

Although the London studio became famous Escape – clone GTA – his work was combined with franchises such as SingStar, EyePet or games to promote the launch of the PSP. His latest projects were VR worlds And Blood and truth for PlayStation VR.

PlayStation will cancel some games in development

In a separate post, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst confirmed this. Sony will cancel some games in development.

“We looked at our research and our portfolio, evaluated projects at various stages of development and decided that some of these projects would not be realized,” Hulst said. “Sometimes great ideas don’t make great games. Sometimes a project starts with the best intentions before changes in the market or industry force a change in plan.”

Layoffs and changes at PlayStation They are in line 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 launches in 2024 and will adopt a multi-platform concept. Success helldivers 2 forced the Japanese company to abandon exclusivity and opt for a simultaneous release on Steam.

On this occasion Hermen Hulst said that launching games on PC and mobile devices requires a different approach and different resources.. “PlayStation 5 is now in its fourth year and we’re at a point where we need to take a step back and look at what our business needs,” he added. A former head of Guerrilla Games has confirmed that the Dutch studio will face layoffs, as will Firesprite, the company responsible for development. Horizon: Call of the Mountain.

Sony’s announcement coincides with a contract cut from Supermassive, the maker of the hit PlayStation game. Before dawnwhich confirmed it would lay off 150 employees.

The video game industry is going through one of its most challenging times. Despite the successful launches of 2023, the crisis in development research will continue into this year. A few weeks ago, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees from Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax and Xbox.