Sony has become the latest company to be hit by the brutal and ongoing wave of gaming industry layoffs.
In a post on the Sony Interactive website, president Jim Ryan announces that the company has "made the extremely hard decision" to lay off around 900 employees, or about 8% of Sony Interactive Entertainment's global workforce.
Ryan then shares an email sent to SIE employees this morning, in which he says the layoffs are part of an effort to focus on "the long-term sustainability" of the company. It's a familiar refrain, and one that other studios like Supermassive Games have also used.
All regions in which Sony Interactive Entertainment operates (which is pretty much everywhere) will be affected, but a couple of PlayStation studios will be particularly adversely affected.
PlayStation London Studio, best known for developing the SingStar series along with VR titles like Blood and Truth, will be closed down, while The Persistence developer Firesprite, which Sony acquired in 2021, will also see reductions.
PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst also confirms that layoffs will hit Spider-Man 2 studio Insomniac Games, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog, Horizon studio Guerrilla, and several tech, creative, and support teams at PlayStation.
Unfortunately, PlayStation's announcement today is just the latest in a long string of studios announcing layoffs, closures, and downsizing efforts in recent months.
Within the last few weeks alone, studios like the aforementioned Supermassive Games, as well as Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM and Homeworld 3 studio Blackbird Interactive, have laid off employees.
They join other companies like Embracer Group, NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts, and even tabletop giant Hasbro, all of whom have also announced reductions in their workforces to varying degrees in recent weeks.
It's not clear exactly what these layoffs mean for PlayStation or Sony Interactive Entertainment yet, but one thing is sadly for sure: PlayStation London Studio is no more. Stay tuned for more info on this.
