PlayStation announced Tuesday that it’s laying off about 900 people, or 8% of its workforce. The cuts will impact “employees across the globe, including our studios.”
In a letter sent to staff published on the SIE website, outgoing CEO Jim Ryan wrote that “several PlayStation Studios are affected,” citing in particular that in the UK, PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will be closed, and Firesprite Studio will have cuts. Both studios worked on VR games. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Firesprite will also cancel an in-development Twisted Metal live-service game.
Ryan wrote, “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.”
As Kotaku’s Ethan Gach points out, possible layoffs were mentioned in internal Sony materials revealed as part of the hack at Insomniac in December. In a blog from Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst, Sony confirmed cuts at "Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, as well as our Technology, Creative, and Support teams," as well as reductions at Guerrilla, alongside the studios mentioned in Ryan's message. Naughty Dog recently saw layoffs in October.
2024 continues to be a brutal year for layoffs in the games industry: Among them, PlayStation rival Xbox saw its own massive layoffs, with Microsoft axing 1900 people in late January. Just yesterday, Mutazione developer Die Gute Fabrik announced it was closing down after failing to secure funding.
Here’s a photo of Ryan partying with London Studio members last week. Ryan wrote in his message that “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.”
This article has been updated with more information about studios affected by the cuts.
