Sony Lays Off 8% of PlayStation Workforce – London Studio Closed; Guerrilla, Naughty Dog & Insomniac Affected

27.02.2024 - 16:51 / wccftech.com / Jason Schreier / Hermen Hulst / Alessio Palumbo / Sony

[UPDATE] According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Sony has also canceled the new Twisted Metal live service game in early development at Firesprite for PlayStation 5 (and possibly PC).

[ORIGINAL STORY] Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is announcing a significant reduction in its PlayStation Studios workforce. Around 8% of the total, around 900 people, are expected to be affected globally.

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The most affected studio of all is the London one, which will be closed 22 years after its foundation. Known for games like This is Football, The Getaway, Singstar, Wonderbook, and Blood & Truth, the London Studio announced its next project in October 2022. It would have been a cooperative action game set in a modern fantasy version of the UK's capital. As you'd expect, the game is also being canceled, along with the studio's closure.

The layoffs are much more widespread, though, and they also hit highly successful PlayStation Studios like Guerrilla Games (Horizon), Naughty Dog (Uncharted, The Last of Us), and Insomniac (Ratchet & Clank, Marvel's Spider-Man). Sony also said there would be reductions in Firesprite, the Liverpool-based team that became part of the PlayStation family around two and a half years ago. Firesprite co-developed Horizon Call of the Mountain for PS VR2 alongside Guerrilla and was rumored to be working on a horror game. It is presently unclear whether this project has been canned or not.

Commenting on all these layoffs, Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, said:

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.

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.

Our philosophy has always been to allow creative experimentation. Sometimes, great ideas don’t become great games. Sometimes, a project is started with the best intentions before shifts within the market or industry result in a change of plan.

Sony, which recently lost $10 billion in market capitalization following the disappointing profit margins unveiled with the latest quarterly report, is only the latest company to lay off a significant amount of its workforce in the beginning of 2024. Microsoft also reduced its workforce by around 8%, while Riot cut 11% of its employees, and these are just the biggest examples of an industry-wide phenomenon.