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Sony is the latest company to announce layoffs in the game industry having confirmed this morning that it will be laying off 900 employees across some of its first-party PlayStation studios, with multiple studios being impacted, including Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games, Insomniac Games, and Firesprite, as well as London Studio.
Sony is also closing London Studio entirely. This latest round of layoffs adds to the already staggering number of employees that have been put out of work since the beginning of 2024. Since the start of the year, layoffs have continually been announced across a wide variety of studios. Near the beginning of this month, there were already over 6,400 layoffs across the games industry according to Kotaku. And with Sony’s announced 900 that puts the total somewhere closer to 7,400+. It’s not a good time for game industry employees. Those who still have jobs have to watch friends and colleagues deal with difficult times ahead.
It also likely puts a damper on the mood of anyone who might be currently looking to break into the games industry. And understandably so. Seeing that the industry you want to work in has just laid off well over 7,000 people in less than two months isn’t exactly inspiring.
With the London Studio closure, the PlayStation layoffs amount to 8% of global employees
According to Sony’s official statement about the layoffs, about 8% of employees globally will be impacted. Sony Interactive Entertainment President & CEO Jim Ryan shared details about the email sent to employees to give context to Sony’s decision.
The industry has changed, Ryan says, and this difficult decision was made to prepare for what lies ahead. “The industry has changed immensely, and we need to future-ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead. We need to deliver on expectations from developers and gamers and continue to propel future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we are set up to continue bringing the best gaming experiences to the community,” Ryan said in a blog post.
In the email sent to employees, details are given about how staff from different regions are being informed and what happens next. It sheds an interesting light on how the PlayStation business is handled differently with regard to its employees across different countries around the globe. For example, Sony says that employees impacted in the UK are facing these proposed changes. However, the company will also now enter a period of consultation before any final decisions are made.
Meanwhile, impacted employees in the US were all notified as of today. Employees in Japan will go through a “next career support program” with further details being shared separately.
Staff reduction includes the cancellation of several projects
In addition to the layoffs, it’s been confirmed that several unannounced PlayStation games have been canceled. Sony Interactive Entertainment has reevaluated its projects amongst the layoffs and has made the decision to cancel some of the ones that were in development, Head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst said.
Hulst doesn’t mention any games specifically. However, it’s very likely that the game London Studio was currently working on is part of that selection of projects. Bloomberg reports (via Insider Gaming) that a live service Twisted Metal game was also canceled.