PlayStation has just fired 900 people, their first cut in 2024 with the news first broken by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreicher with PlayStation shortly announcing the news themselves through a blog post by Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The blog post details that the affected are about 8% of the company (900) with the layoffs affecting employees all over the globe.
Jim explains that this difficult decision was taken due to the industry changing ‘immensely’ as PlayStation layoffs are part of a new strategy in which PlayStations gears up to deliver on the expectations set by developers and gamers.
A copy of the original email shared with employees is attached:
Subject: Important Update Regarding Organizational Restructuring
Team,
It is important to provide you with updates about the business as often as possible. Today, I am writing with sad news. Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable. The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success.
After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it has become clear changes need to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company. We had to step back, look at our business holistically, and move forward focusing on the long-term sustainability of the company and delivering the best experiences possible for our community. The goal is to streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and ability to deliver experiences gamers and creators have come to expect from us.
I want to be as transparent as possible with you, our partners, and our community about what this means:
- We envision reducing our headcount by about 900 people, or about 8% of our current workforce
- There will be impact for employees across all SIE regions – Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC
- Several PlayStation Studios are affected
I know that receiving this news will be hard and unsettling and you are wondering what this means for you. Timelines and procedures for how we approach this will vary based on your location due to local laws and regulations.
- For those of you in the US, all impacted employees will be notified today.
- In the UK, it is proposed:
- That PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will close in its entirety;
- That there will be reductions in Firesprite studio;
- And that there will be reductions in various functions across SIE in the UK.
The proposed changes mean that we will enter a period of collective consultation before any final decisions are taken. All employees who are part of the collective consultation will be made aware of the next steps today.
- In Japan, we will implement a next career support program. Details will be communicated separately.
- In other countries, we will begin conversations with those who are potentially at risk or impacted as a result of this proposed course of action.
For those who will be leaving SIE: You are leaving this company with our deepest respect and appreciation for all your efforts during your tenure.
For those who will be staying at SIE: We will be saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that we cherish during this process, and this will be painful. Your resilience, sensitivity, and adaptiveness will be critical in the weeks and months to come.
This will not be easy, and I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing. Affected employees will receive support, including severance benefits. While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand, or our industry. Our goal is to remain agile and adaptable and to continue to focus on delivering the best gaming experiences possible now and in the future.
Thank you for your understanding during this difficult period. Please be kind to yourselves and to each other.
Jim
PlayStation Studio’s London Studio Shuts Down
In the email, it is disclosed that PlayStation’s London Studio will fully shut down. London Studio was primarily focused on supporting PlayStation’s VR headset with the company launching popular games like London Heist and Blood & Truth which received good reviews. The Studio was currently working on a new game set in ‘modern fantasy London’ with the game being called their most ambitious title. As part of the PlayStation layoffs, game studio FireSprite will also be affected.
PlayStation Layoffs Hit Their Major Studios
While the layoffs are directed across the globe, PlayStation’s popular studios will also be targeted with Schreier sharing that the layoffs will impact Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Guerrilla. These three are some of the most popular studios worldwide and have developed popular games like Marvel’s Spider-Man Series, The Last of Us, Uncharted and the Horizon games. Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 was PlayStation’s recent major exclusive release aside from Helldivers 2 and opened up to blazing sales. The company was also hit with a data breach leaking their timeline for the future and in-development footage of their upcoming Wolverine Game.
This comes as the games industry is going through an agonizing period where great games are being churned out to players but the industry is bleeding itself with layoffs occurring across the board. In the latest, SuperMassive Games is set to lay off 90 people which is close to 1/3rd of the whole studio. SuperMassive was behind the cult classic Until Dawn and the recent The Quarry game.
The video game industry has already laid off around 6000 people this year with more layoffs expected throughout the year. This comes after the dynamics of the industry are changing with companies shifting gears to better handle it. A recent shift was Microsoft had to alter its future strategy to find growth by making some exclusive multi-platform.
Note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information surfaces regarding the PlayStation layoffs.
