Sony axes 900 jobs and loses London studio
2024 has seen some brutal layoffs, with Xbox haemorrhaging 1,900 staff members and Riot Games losing a further 530. It's been agonising to watch from the sidelines because there's truly not much that the consumer can do to help.
Buying video games from AAA developers has never put money directly into the pockets of developers - only the companies and CEOs who keep them employed. Now, PlayStation has revealed that it will also be slashing its staff numbers, announcing on February 27 that 900 team members will be losing their jobs.
PlayStation announces huge layoffs
Click to enlargeThe news has come in a message from PlayStation President Jim Ryan, who said: "We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes.
"Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted." He continues, "These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions. However, the industry has changed immensely, and we need to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead.
"We need to deliver on expectations from developers and gamers and continue to propel future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we are set up to continue bringing the best gaming experiences to the community."
This news comes after PlayStation revealed that its sales didn't live up to expectations in the last year of the PS5, and had adjusted its expectations for the upcoming year.
PlayStation's layoffs have impacted many studios
Click to enlargeBloomberg has reported that an upcoming live-service Twisted Metal game developed by Firebrand has been cancelled in the wake of the news of the layoffs. Teams like Firebrand, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac Games have all suffered a loss of staff.
Most impacted seems to be PlayStation's London Studio, a part of the PlayStation family that worked heavily in VR and helped to introduce the world to the EyePet.
The industry is in a terrible way right now, and as PlayStation joins the mound of companies shedding staff members, things are feeling more and more hopeless by the day. It looks like nobody is safe - especially those who reasonably should be safe under the wings of global gaming conglomerates.
