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Sony boss Jim Ryan announced the job losses in a company email this morning, with multiple PlayStation Studios affected across all regions.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has announced that it will be laying off 8pc of its global PlayStation workforce, amounting to around 900 job losses.
In a blogpost published today (27 February), SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan, who is retiring next month, briefly outlined the company’s restructuring plans along with a copy of the email sent out to the Sony workforce this morning discussing the losses.
In the email, Ryan cited the “evolving economic landscape”, changes in the way the company develops, distributes and launches products, and ensuring that the company is “future ready” in the industry as the reasons that led to the job cuts.
These losses will affect workers across all of the company’s regions, notably the Americas, the EMEA, Japan and the Asia Pacific region. Multiple PlayStation studios will be affected, particularly in the US, Europe and the UK.
According to a separate blogpost by head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst, prominent US studios Insomniac Games – which suffered a massive data leak at the end of last year – and Naughty Dog will be directly impacted by the losses, as well as some of the company’s US-based technology, creative and support teams.
In Europe, Dutch studio Guerilla Games will be directly affected by the layoffs.
In the UK, the division’s London Studio will shut down completely, while Firesprite studio is confirmed to be directly impacted. Both of these studios worked on PlayStation VR games.
Ryan stated in the company email that affected employees will receive support, including severance benefits.
“While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand or our industry,” concluded Ryan. “Our goal is to remain agile and adaptable and to continue to focus on delivering the best gaming experiences possible now and in the future.”
Hulst added that he was “deeply saddened to see talented individuals leave the company”.
“I have so much admiration, appreciation and respect for their work.”
These layoffs are the latest in a wave of job cuts affecting the gaming industry since the start of 2024. Late last month, Tencent-owned Riot Games announced its plan to cut 11pc of its global workforce, with Microsoft following soon after with the announcement of 1,900 job cuts at Activision Blizzard and Xbox.
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