We’re starting to suspect that companies choose these layoffs chunks of 900 people to stop headlines from saying “a thousand,” but it’s bad no matter what, and Sony is the next gaming company to axe big numbers of the very game developers who propelled it to success.
In a memo dubbed “Difficult News About Our Workforce” attributed to Jim Ryan, the company says it’s gutting its workforce, laying off 8% of its employees. Ryan announced last fall he will be stepping down this March after multiple quarters of sluggish console sales and missed financial targets.
“We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted. These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions. However, 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.”
The memo to workers further clarifies that SIE will continue drawing down in the UK and aims to close PlayStation’s London studio “in its entirety.” Layoffs will affect multiple studios under the Sony umbrella, including Naughty Dog, Insomniac, and Guerrilla – the last of which was supposed to be working on the Horizon MMO. The London studio was also working on an unnamed fantasy multiplayer game.
As multiple people have already pointed out, Sony initiated a massive $1.5B stock buyback last spring.
