Naughty Dog reportedly hit with layoffs

PlayStation support studio Visual Arts has been hit with another round of layoffs, with several former employees sharing on social media last week that they have been let go.

The Problem with Jon Stewarthas been canceled by Apple after just two seasons, reportedly after Apple execs balked at the idea of the show tackling topics like China and artificial intelligence, The New York Times reports.

Zen Studios, the team behind the Pinball FX series, is reportedly one of the latest companies to have been hit by layoffs this year.

Frontier, the developer behind the likes of F1 Manager, Planet Zoo, and other management games, has announced layoffs as part of an organisational review of the business.

The Last of Us Part II might be getting a remaster, as accidentally stated by a developer at Naughty Dog. First spotted by Resetera users, Lead Outsource Artist Mark Pajarillo referenced the version in a now-updated LinkedIn experience post. “Responsible for overseeing the production of all outsourced environment art assets, weapons and interactive props for two iconic titles The Last of Us: Part One and The Last of Us 2: Remastered,” the original post read, proving its existence. Hints of an enhanced PS5 version first dropped in July, when composer Gustavo Santaolalla alluded to some new features being added to the remaster.

A high-level designer leaves Naughty Dog as the company pauses development of the untitled multiplayer game. Most of the studio’s recent layoffs targeted part-time employees from the quality assurance department. Now the game’s Principal Monetization Designer, Anders Howard, has also left the company.

Naughty Dog has laid off a key employee alongside the recent round of reported layoffs.

Naughty Dog’s attempts to create a live service multiplayer game set in the Last of Us universe don’t seem to be working out too well. Recent reports have claimed that the developer’s standalone multiplayer The Last of Us project has been put “on ice”, which in turn followed reports from earlier in the year that the project’s development team had been scaled back after an internal re-evaluation by Sony.

The Last of Us maker Naughty Dog is reportedly among the latest game studios to be hit with layoffs. As per Kotaku, the first-party PlayStation studio is cutting off at least 25 developers, with the most affected members being quality assurance (QA) testers, whose contracts have been shortened. Affected workers are expected to continue working until the end of October, and they allegedly won't be receiving any severance payments. Turns out, the full-time staff — last recorded headcount being 400+ in July — are not being laid off, with employees in general being ‘pressured' to keep the news internal.

In the latest in a string of whirlwind layoffs in the games-and-games-adjacent industry, it appears there has been another round of layoffs at Twitch, according to Today Off Stream’s Zach Bussey via Twitter. 

Naughty Dog, developers of Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection and The Last Of Us: Part 1, are cutting back on contract developers. According to a report on Kotaku, the studio is cutting contracts short for at least 25 developers, with most having worked in quality assurance.

The games industry is going through a time of troubles right now with multiple studios laying off their staff members recently, and it seems no one is really safe. Reports today show layoffs from Sony studio Naughty Dog, as well as at Twitch, while yesterday saw layoffs at Team17.