Gamers are worried for Spider-Man 3 following Sony layoffs
It's only the start of 2024, but already, Sony has joined an incredibly embarrassing club. The company announced that it would be laying off 900 members of its staff, though expected to be a result of missed marks and underwhelming sales numbers for the PS5 console, it's a reflection of where the gaming world is right now.
Sony and Microsoft are among the wealthiest companies in the gaming space, and rather than suffer financial losses that come as a result of poor sales and huge buyouts, they're sacking staff members in hopes of maintaining their bottom lines.
With Riot Games also losing 530 members of staff, the last two months have rivalled the entirety of 2023 for layoffs already. It's an incredibly bleak time to be following the gaming industry. And now, fans are starting to worry that PlayStation's gaming outputs are going to suffer.
Fans are worried for the future of Spider-Man at Sony
Click to enlargeNow that layoffs have stripped team members from PlayStation giants like Naughty Dog and Guerilla Games, players are getting nervous about Spider-Man developer, Insomniac Games. It comes after Insomniac has also suffered loss of staff.
After all, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was able to maintain a level of quality carried over from its predecessors for the most part, and with a leaked roadmap that implies a huge Spider-Verse multiplayer project, there's a lot that Insomniac Games needs to do in order to make their hopes happen.
Now, players are taking to Reddit to express that "not even Spider-Man is safe, and that’s easily Sony’s biggest franchise." Fans are worried about budgets going forward, too, as one fan reminds Reddit - "If you look at the insomniac leak the last game’s budget was double the first game.
"Yes Spider-Man makes a lot of money, but if you’ve already spent all the money you’re left with nothing for profit." It's an incredibly concerning trend that Sony is following, and there's every chance that the leaked roadmap for Insomniac's Spider Saga could suffer for it.
Insomniac has since responded to the layoffs, and in a lengthy Twitter post, refers to it as a "solemn and unprecedented moment." While there was no news on how many jobs have been affected or whether it will impact games moving forward, the apology is more than most studios have given us recently.
Yuri Lowenthal thinks Peter Parker will be back before long
Click to enlargeSPOILER WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Though worries are rife right now, it seems Peter Parker's voice actor isn't worried about his return. Though the end of Marvel's Spider-Man implied that Peter would be taking a backseat while he let Miles take over as New York's leading Spider-Man, Lowenthal knows Peter won't let danger strike without doing something about it.
"There have been some comments recently that were picked up to infer that Peter’s out and Miles is in," he says when speaking to Variety. "While I think that Peter would love to believe that he can just turn it off and not be Spider-Man anymore and live a completely normal life.
"I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen now. I don’t know — I haven’t read a script yet. They’re probably still working on it. But I don’t think that’s the last we’re gonna see Peter. I think it’s a cool place to leave it. It’s a cool change for him."
At least it seems like Lowenthal is in - but the next game has to enter production first. Even though Marvel's Spider-Man is huge, Sony isn't making it easy for Insomniac.
