Damn, London Studios is shutting down, Sony VR going PC, layoffs across the board and this is despite console sales which goes to show that this industry needs to change because the cost of AAA development is just way too ridiculously high.

Looks like those Insomniac leaks were on point

Sickening.

The VR investment was such a wash

That definitely sucks. Hopefully those affected can get back to work as soon as possible.

The Insomniac layoffs was especially surprising because they were the one studio getting product out.

But hey if Google and Microsoft aren’t immune to a rift, it should be no surprise that Sony isn’t either.

If things don't change on all fronts on all consoles kiss goodbye to ur hobby

TRAGIC, love Sony but level of respect has dropped. if they make blunders Iike this more often, it will not go well for them.

could they not just shuffle some people around, to where they were needed best/most!!!

god damn

I hope this doesn't mean that with them laying off some staff at Firesprite and closing London that even less VR content is coming from them.

Bad times in the industry right now. I hope everyone affected gets alternative work very soon.

I know what they're going through. I lost a job in December 2022 after I'd been working for the company 8 years. I started a new job in January 2023 only to lose it in July 2023. Got a new job in September and now I'm losing it at the end of next month. Times are tough out there.

PSVR2 is dead

I mean, no one is surprised anymore.

Sony has just been leaving top quality IPs untouched for years. London could have easily been sent to work on Getaway or something. Sad state and I think more people are now going to be super cautious about entering this industry. Firing and hiring is normal, yes. But when you see 900 people just get axed that's wild, especially in London where costs are flying high and having a job doesn't equate to a good standard of living.

Naughty Dog, I understand, they don't need all those people they hired for the MP game.

But Insomniac too? That's not cool, they have been carrying the gen for PS5 in terms of PS5 only exclusives.

And London Studio... they should make more exclusive VR games, which PSVR2 needs, I hardly touched my VR since I bought it, kinda sad that is closed as well as I enjoyed Blood & Truth and always wanted a more advanced one.

Remember when Iwata and other Nintendo execs took like a 50% paycut and more to prevent layoffs. It stills begs the question of why a company sitting on a mountain of cash even needed to fire anyone, but still.

Any corporate C-suite or V-suite layoffs? #doubtit

Something to think about before glorifying the idea of working at these gaming studios.

Oof, that's rough.

I would of thought some of these people could of been reposted if you look on the Playstation careers page there's jobs vacancies on there that i'm sure some of these people could do.

Unfortunately this is happening across the board. London Studio, like Japan Studio I had fond memories of in the ps2 and ps3 era.
Hopefully they can find a way retain talent like they did with Team Asobi from Japan Studio once it was dissolved.
I hope they will get over this rough hunch and look back at it and become stronger.

Hey Sony (as well as every other company), how about instead of playing the victim card of “this has been an incredibly difficult decision but a necessity”. How about you publish your gross profit margin, share holders, corporate head annual salary increases and bonuses along side your pleadings for forgiveness…

This is what I was saying would happen years ago, the switch from direct sales to subscriptions has devastated the industry to the point where it can no longer support the type of big budget games we have had for so long.

This is the beginning of the end for AAA gaming.

[RESPONSE PART II]

This is an industry problem, Xbox are laying off their workforce too, and who does that effect? Everyone. Where are game designers gonna catch on? They don't, so where they work? Lowes, Walmart, McDonalds, janitorial and then what happens to those people? They're living on the street while game developers went from $65,000/yr to $28,000/yr and economy suffers and gets worse, crime goes up, government assistance goes up, because companies are smart in their hiring to begin with or people would be studying medical field or government jobs with NSA or FBI or something like that, they wouldn't be studying game development. ITS EVERYONE, not just PlayStation, but if your teams aren't being productive, it's a top down issue. Hulst ought to be under the magnifying glass as to why his teams aren't developing, that's his job is to make sure they're producing, not looking for reasons to cut his force, that's his and Jim Ryan's fault or Neil Druckmanns, those are the ones you're looking to fire and replace with someone else who can get the job done. This isn't good for gaming, period. Why is Hulst being transparent? Because he's a good guy? No. Because they're about to lay off a crap ton of people and they're gonna start talking to they think it softens the blow or excuses them. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR DOING THAT TO PEOPLE, they should've been smarter in their hiring process. This is bad.

Gaming just isn't as fun anymore. The PS3 had a mass of games I was always looking forward to. PS4, eh, there were games but nothing I was losing my mind over and PS5..... I just don't care anymore. Mobile type games are taking over and all this Games as a Service type stuff isn't good for the industry, it's all bad and it's going to cause another gaming crash, gaming isn't as much fun as it once was....... Maybe it's time for a crash to wake everyone up again

[RESPONSE PART I]

As consumers that buy games and hardware, how long are we going to allow this happen? We've lost jobs and have wondered what on earth we're going to do to survive, how we're going to feed our families and keep a roof over their head. You'd think that entertainment companies would be wise in their hiring process, and think about those kinds of things. What are we looking at long-term. But, it's always like: You're a piece of tissue paper and not a human being. The thought is: Man, with all of these new studio startups in a multi-billion dollar industry, they're doing pretty good, getting a new job should be a snap. But, the industry is hurting as a whole clearly and Executives keep wanting more and more money, it's greed so the little man that makes you what you are, as Hulst puts it "valuable", well, then why are you canning them? Why are you laying off Naughty Dog employees when it's Neil Druckmann that's focusing only on him. What has the team done under his leadership? Nothing, because he's feeding his own ego focusing on The Last of Us and it's TV series. They haven't shipped ONE GAME on the PlayStation 5 and have instead focused on their new political agenda, I think that's why The Last of Us co-creator Bruce Straley left, he saw that coming and didn't morally want to do it, so he acted with class and simply bowed out. Under Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra the PS3 shipped 4 games, three Uncharted games and The Last of Us will 3 out of 4 of those having a multiplayer component to them. Under Druckmann, nothing, just remasters and remakes. It's the leadership that aren't doing their jobs and sucking up all the funding on their three houses and personal jets. Iwata took a pay cut to keep Nintendo employees afloat in their rough days, because he knew who it was that created software to move that hardware. They're just letting studios sit around and laziness produces nothing. The PS5 has been the worst console in PlayStation history because it has nothing. They're getting ready to launch a PS5 Pro, but why do we need one? I just finished playing Horizon Forbidden West on my PS4 Pro. And if they do go to PS5 console exclusivity, it's not because the PS4 can't handle it, it's because the PS5 isn't much different or more advanced, it's an incremental upgrade just like iPhones are every year and they just want to sell PS5s instead of selling us a machine full of tech and innovation like they used to. If Sony does go PC only, it's not that big of a deal or a shock because consoles are mini PCs anyway, why do you think they have no shame on porting games after a year? Nintendo isn't

*grabs popcorn*
Let the spin doctors work their magic.

If Sony can't afford to keep its talent and studios open, where is all the money going to from the increased game and PS+ costs? We were already told that gamers had to pay for the changes in the economy and now that we have, we still get less games and smaller studios.

I guess all those record profits and sales records this generation don't really mean anything in the face of corporate greed/mismanagement.

Wow it’s a much different tone in here compared to the tone in the MS thread when they reported laying people off. Like I said before anyone who has ever had a real job knows there’s no such thing as job security.

First they downgrade projections, now they layoff 11.25% of their workforce.

This is highly disappointing in an industry/era where there already has been too much of this going on.

Crazy smdh. Wtf is going on in the industry. Shame.

A.I. continues to ravage...

Can people take a second and realise they are talking about actual people losing their jobs instead of comparing PS to Xbox

Terrible news for those who lost or will be losing their job. Sucks for anyone who loses a job 99% of us rely on to support ourselves and our families.

Like I said before it sucks right now.. but look at the entire industry.. Microsoft, Google, and even Meta and other tech companies were hit with layoffs. 21,000 so far this year.
And if you count the 10,000+ jobs from Microsoft over the last year it’s above 32,000..

It’s not just one industry but multiple industries hurting. I mean it isn’t hard to find information on a google search.
The industry as whole is restructuring, and there’s no alibi to fix it.
So far Nintendo is the only hardware company that hasn’t hit a layoff that I’m aware of and kudos to them.

Definitely vindication for people like me that just felt like they've been lacking. No arguing now, things definitely aren't going so smoothly. Crazy to hear London is getting shut down, and the layoffs are sad to hear. It's at least a silver lining to see them be transparent about it, address it directly, and share their plans to restructure some things, hopefully things get back on track after this cause it's been a very underwhelming generation from PlayStations 1st party

So I guess Sony is accepting defeat and getting out of the console business? Just like Microsoft because if I remember correctly that’s what a load of people on this very website were saying and agreeing with last month.

Here is a short overview, eventhough it is depressing.

Riot Games: -11% of the workforce
Microsoft: -8% of the workforce
Sony: -11% of the workforce
Bungie (Sony as well): -8% of the workforce

In case you were still wondering where the industry is heading when it comes to "exclusives":

Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, said "Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources,”

The truth is that nothing has really changed. The same gamers are out there willing to buy the same titles they always liked. It seems to me that management across the industry needs to just get a grip and release some good games.
Instead I fear we are moving toward endless Marvel licenced games and GASS titles all in pursuit of endless growth, which we all know is impossible.

Sony should fire all the US/western management team, and bring it back in-house to Japan. The pursuit of endless growth for shareholders and the top end with US/western style capitalism is not working for them. Employees are bearing the cost of their greed.

Hopefully Sony uses this as an opportunity to get rid of the woke infestation that plagues their best studios (especially Naughty Dog, Insomniac and Guerilla -- which have been getting progressively more woke).

Sadly they will probably just get rid of good people and keep all of the woke and DEI paperweight hires. But fingers crossed Sony sees the writing on the wall and cleans house before it is too late. Otherwise they are done for.

This is what happens when inflation hits and sales stop growing.

If workers want a good, healthy life, I wouldn't recommend working in the same industry for more than a few years anyway. A change is always good and move on, rather than continue the same monotonous job.

So many layoffs. Fubar!

Guess we'll never be getting The Getaway 3 now.

Such a shame what's happening in the industry, I have a couple friends who are and luckily they still have jobs.

Doesn't matter what console you prefer, if you dislike a certain studio, end of the day, each one of these numbers is a human being who's worked stupidly hard, more than likely gotten themselves in debt to fund their education for the industry and this effects them all, it's sad

This is happening all over the world in all sectors. I work for a trading company in the UK, and they've just laid off 300 people in 3 months . Metro bank laid off 800 people. It's going to get a lot worse everywhere

I dont know why people are acting so surprised. When Microsoft recently laid off workers from their gaming division, so many people here were acting like Sony is immune to layoffs. I said this is gonna be happening to them as well. For years now I've been saying gaming can't sustain itself without laying off people. So the next time a SP game sells 4 million copies just remember a sequel will have to sell 10 to 15 million because of the rising cost of making a game.

For the ones who laughed when Microsoft layed off people, I told you the things that make you laugh can also make you cry. Microsoft needs sony and vice versa if they are going to continue to thrive in the industry. Don't be so naive and think that gaming is about what you (the individual) want. At the end of the day they are always gonna do what's in their best interest. They're gonna make money with or without you.

So the execs cut their compensation before laying people off...

... Right, Herman?

Corporations being corporate. Imagine coming from Guerilla and you just cut 40% of the people on your old team. Foul play, Sony. Look, I get that there is a lot of hardship right now, but again, you're going after the talent before you reel in your own compensation.

You can't do shit like this at such a contentious time. My guess? They're timing this with the end of the fiscal year.

If so, absolute dick move. I'll be waiting to see what they say about their earnings.

Solidarity with the talent. May you land on your feet very soon.

A videogame crash of some kind is looking more and more likely. Nintendo. You got this.

To Sony, and so many other companies in this industry, the short-term satisfaction and happiness of their shareholders means so much more to them than their employees, their products, and their customers.

This gonna be happening a lot going forward.

There is clearly some kind of stagnation going on in the gaming industry this gen. Blame it on Covid, or the parts shortage, or global forces, and it really is not just the gaming industry that has seen these layoffs. Something clearly changed this gen as we have not seen the amount of game releases this gen and it is leading me to believe there may be gaming crash coming as this slowdown has even hit Sony's release schedule. Many seem to be saying these 3 4 5 6 year single platform dev time it takes to make these AA AAA games don't seem to be sustainable anymore which is why we are seeing more console games going PC and other platforms to get the games in as many gamers hands as possible. What concerns me are the gamers whose first response is this toxic console war mindset which is to once again pit Sony against MS instead of just acknowledging laying people off is bad for all gamers as many us game on all of the platforms and as gamers want what is best for all gamers not praise one platform while bashing and wishing bad on the other platforms. I am hoping for the best.

and they said live service games were a boon to the industry!

So sad to see the axe keeps carving through studios and developers in 2024 :(

They can make a huge profit if they choose to remake a lot of PS1 gems as a timed exclusive, the suits are not gamers, they think with their DK.

I think they've lost there way to a degree. PS used to be where you could get a smattering of cool, often unique/weird games, they didn't have to be big block busters.
While all these narrative action games are cool and great games, Jim Ryan has killed new experiences, experimentation, and personality. Obviously each game evolves somewhat with every game but when a game comes out only every 4+ years, the room for innovation has been suffocated.
Instead of producing smaller $40 games that only take 2 years to make they bet it all on monster projects that are borderline unsustainable and what results is layoffs.
Their quest for big blockbusters have put pressure on gamers themselves now; charging $70 to crawl back profits, instead of making better use of the droves of talented people at their disposal. Now some of them has been disposed.
Sonys bread and butter now isn't good or interesting game design, it's narratives and set pieces; that doesn't sound like games.

can u imagine, that after just 5 days after they had a "farewell party" for Jim, they've all been laid off?

the absolute audacity

Ps5 is the most underwhelming console Sony has ever produced. Buyers remorse must be high... I mean, remakes and not much else... Handholdy cinematic nothingburger games.

The cost of AAA in the gaming indusrty is to much, there needs to be changes

All hail to the KI! Just my opinion that this is a big reason why it happens everywhere in gaming.

If I were thinking of joining the industry now I would be hightailing to pivot right out of it. When first party are laying off there is no safe place. Doesn’t matter where, the gaming industry isn’t making enough, I guess.

This is absolutely awful, man. Between Sony and MS, that's 2,800 people in the industry without jobs in a few short weeks.
Another reason consolidation should not be cheered on.
Sad day for the industry.

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau