Sony laying off 900 PlayStation employees, London Studio to close in its entirety

Sony is to lay off 900 people, equating to eight percent of its workforce. This reduction will see PlayStation Studios’ London Studio close in its entirety, plus reductions made within Sony’s Firesprite studio. There will also be reductions in various functions across SIE in the UK

In a post earlier today, Sony’s Jim Ryan said the company’s PlayStation community meant “everything to us”, and therefore it felt compelled to share an update on the current situation.

“We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about eight percent or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted,” Ryan wrote.

“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.

“We deeply appreciate support and understanding from the PlayStation community as these decisions are very difficult. Please rest assured that our plans for reorganising and streamlining are so we can continue to deliver the best gaming experiences possible.”

Ryan shared an email sent to staff today included in his full statement, titled: Important Update Regarding Organisational Restructuring.

In this email, Ryan said the restructuring was an “incredibly difficult decision” for leadership to make, but it had become clear “changes [needed] to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company”.

The goal, Ryan said, is to “streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and ability to deliver experiences gamers and creators have come to expect from us”. This will see employees across “all SIE regions” impacted. Ryan said Sony will notify affected employees in the US today, although a subsequent post shared by head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said studios affected include Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog. The company’s US Technology, Creative, and Support teams will also be affected.

Meanwhile, in the UK, PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will close in its entirety. The studio was working on a new online game for the PlayStation 5, set in a fantasy version of London. There will also be reductions made at both Guerrilla and Firesprite, which developed Horizon: Call of the Mountain for PS VR2.

“The proposed changes mean that we will enter a period of collective consultation before any final decisions are taken. All employees who are part of the collective consultation will be made aware of the next steps today,” Ryan continued. “In Japan, we will implement a next career support program. Details will be communicated separately. In other countries, we will begin conversations with those who are potentially at risk or impacted as a result of this proposed course of action.”

Ryan closed his email stating those affected by today’s news are leaving with Sony’s “deepest respect and appreciation for all your efforts during your tenure”. He said the “resilience, sensitivity, and adaptiveness” of those employees who remain at the company will be “crucial in the weeks and months” ahead. This is something, Ryan admitted, that will not be easy.

“I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing,” he wrote. “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. 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.

“Thank you for your understanding during this difficult period. Please be kind to yourselves and to each other.”

Jim Ryan is set to retire next month. The exec took charge of the PlayStation division back in February 2019, having previously helmed Sony Computer Interactive Europe.

Sony is the latest in what is sadly a long line of layoffs across the industry this year. Just yesterday, The Quarry and Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games announced job losses “with deep regret”. Meanwhile, last month Microsoft announced it was laying off 1900 people across its video game teams, including Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox.

GDC published its 2024 State of the Game Industry report earlier this year. Here, it said 35 percent of game developers had been impacted by layoffs in the last 12 months. Additionally, half of those surveyed said they are concerned more job cuts are on the way.