Sony Interactive Entertainment are facing an ‘organizational restructuring’ as they announce lay-offs affecting 8% of employees across the globe, as well as a studio closure.
In a newsletter from Jim Ryan, President and CEO of the company, this change is resulting in letting go ‘about 900 people’.
The London Studio has also been closed down entirely. This studio in the UK was responsible for creating PlayStation games such as The Getaway and Singstar.
‘There will be impact for employees across all SIE regions – Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC.’
Firesprite studio will be facing reductions among various other functions across SIE.
As well as in the US; Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Guerilla Games have been impacted.
It has already not been too good for Sony and Insomniac Games lately; following the recent major hack which resulted in employee details, future game releases and footage being posted online.
Jim Ryan explains the reasoning behind the changes here:
“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.”
Jim Ryan – Full quote available in the Sony Interactive Entertainment newsletter
Hermen Hulst, the Head of Sony PlayStation Studios writes: “PlayStation 5 is in its fourth year, and we are at a stage where we need to step back and look at what our business needs.”
The concern has been with Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 console; which has not been recieving enough new titles after 4 years. In addition to the lower than expected console sales reported in Sony’s quarterly earnings to be at 8.2 million consoles sold.
Sony had branched out to delivering more games for PC and mobile platforms, as the company wanted to adapt to how players experienced games.
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.
We looked at our studios and our portfolio, evaluating projects in various stages of development, and have decided that some of those projects will not move forward.
Hermen Hulst – Head of PlayStation Studios
People who have worked for the studios have been taking to social media, in order to share thoughts about their situation.
Chanté Goodman was a Senior Community Manager at Guerilla Games, who was affected by the lay-offs:
Jessica Williams; who was the Senior Franchise Producer also at Guerilla Games mentions that “It’s heartbreaking. I put my heart and soul into creating things our fans would love.”
Steve Warky Nunez was the Senior Dialogue Coordinator for Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man 2 and upcoming Wolverine game, has begun to look for the next job.
Emma Rose Purvance, who also worked on Spider-Man 2 PS5 and Wolverine at Insomniac Games, was laid-off in the morning and is looking for the next studio to hire her as a game designer.
As London Studio closes down completely, Atarberk Ateş who worked as a Senior Technical Designer at the UK studio remains hopeful about his colleagues finding new work, while also looking for a new Technical Design position: “My friends in London Studio is very passionate and talented on their craft and they will land on their feet.”
Chatter Box Film 
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