Sony has reportedly temporarily halted all production of the PlayStation VR2. The company's purported decision to hit pause on PS VR2 manufacturing is said to be a result of the headset's lackluster sales, which caused an inventory buildup.
27.02.2024 - 16:23 / destructoid.com / Jim Ryan / Sony
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced today that the corporation will cut around 8% of its workforce, or more than 900 jobs. Also, in the announcement, they stated that PlayStation Studios London will be closing.
There are two separate statements, one from President and CEO Jim Ryan and the other from Head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst. Both are full of standard executive-speak, but they provide slightly different insights. For example, Hulst’s statement clarifies that US groups affected will include, “Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, as well as our Technology, Creative, and Support teams,” as well as Europe’s “Guerrilla and Firesprite.”
However, Jim Ryan goes further to say, “There will be impact for employees across all SIE regions – Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC.”
Hulst also says, “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 answer they arrived at was fewer people, by the looks of things.
The reductions that SIE is carrying out will also be affecting some of their projects. “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,” Hulst includes. “I want to be clear that the decision to stop work on these projects is not a reflection on the talent or passion of team members.”
In an email sent to employees by Jim Ryan, he states, “This will not be easy, and I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing. Affected employees will receive support, including severance benefits.”
While this is part of a massive wave of layoffs that are hitting many corners of the industry, there’s further context to Sony’s. Back in November, they had announced that they were scaling back their live service game plans, in which they intended to release 12 such titles by 2025. This month, during a Q3 fiscal report, they announced they were cutting back their sales forecast for the PS5 from 25 million to 21 million.
Personally, I’m not sure that cutting hundreds of “talented and passionate” team members will solve those issues.
As mentioned, this is part of a growing number of layoffs that have impacted the video game industry. Kotaku is keeping count via a frequently updated list. However, at the time of writing, they have not yet added the Sony layoffs. By adding to their count, we’ve passed 7,000 job losses since the beginning of 2024, already surpassing the estimated 6,000 lost in 2023.
Sony has reportedly temporarily halted all production of the PlayStation VR2. The company's purported decision to hit pause on PS VR2 manufacturing is said to be a result of the headset's lackluster sales, which caused an inventory buildup.
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Another day, another videogame company jettisoning a large number of people "who have contributed to our success" so as to position themselves for growth in the face of "challenging times". Today it's Sony's turn with the axe: the PlayStation publisher have announced plans to reduce their global workforce by about 8% or 900 people, so as "to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead", in the words of outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan.
Sony has announced mass layoffs across PlayStation Studios with 8% or around 900 people set to be made redundant across their worldwide studios. This will include the complete shutdown of London Studio, while Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios are affected as well.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is laying off around 900 workers, or 8% of the company, outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan said in a news release published on Tuesday. Employees from all regions — North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Japan; and Asia-Pacific — are impacted by the cuts, including several PlayStation development studios. London Studio, the in-house team that created the SingStar series, will close entirely, Ryan said.