Sony Lays Off 900 PlayStation Employees, Closes London Studio & Cancels Projects

It never ends does it.

@Anti-Matter
Tommy Tallarico Is that you?

Wow, that doesn't bode well for... Anything game related.

what happened to simpler games?

I miss the old days of high-score chasing flash games. Maybe the gaming industry could pivot to more low-budget and addictive titles.

You know things are messed up for PlayStation when a site that covers its competitor is writing about it.

Either way I hope the people affected get hired for other projects sooner than later.

Yikes, that sucks. This looks even worse when you see Sony bragging about PS5 hitting another sales milestone or how their latest game sold however million units.

Seems like Nintendo is one of a few companies who hasn't been laying people off these last few months. Kudos to them.

@Devann sony and xbox fans are used to games with great graphics and frame rates

YES!!!!!! CORPORATE OVERLORDS KEEP THAT INFINITE GROWTH GOING!!!!

@johnedwin O...kay? You can make games with great graphics, high framerate, and simple and addictive gameplay.

Meanwhile Nintendo is doing just fine, actually thriving. I wonder if there's something to their model??? Maybe it's not spending exorbitant amounts of cash on game development for a mediocre game. Instead, it could be making really good games for a low-reasonable cost.

Just a rollback on the rush to hire for DEI initiatives now that that is backfiring. Seeing it across every industry, not just gaming. AI is also showing lots of redundancies across many sectors.

It’s not even March and the layoffs keep coming. Something has to change.

I might even layoff my ps5. Getting no interesting games for it at all. I love the graphics upgrade but my switch gets so much more use..

Thus is what happens when you buy too many game studios and don't have a strategy to grow yourself. Buying Funimations than kill it off and moving people to Crunchyroll. Ring a bell anyone. It's mismanagement by the CEO and management that caused this.

@johnedwin they're used to VFX excesses and redundant framerates. Which is still a wordy way to say "spoiled".

@Anti-Matter i think you mean quality AAA titles. And thats an evil cycle, as long as they keep firering the quality of the final products will go down and sales as well

Not surprised at all seeing how arrogant Sony got last gen riding off the Xbox One launch. They resisted adding cross platform play and mods, resisted backwards compatibility so they could resell you older games, added censorship to indie games that were released uncensored on Switch, and are now deleting people's digital purchases with the Funimation fiasco. And now despite their games selling millions it's still not enough somehow to keep their developers employed.

@Anti-Matter It has nothing to do with "inappropriate" AAA games and everything to do with companies going all in on live service games and appeasing shareholders instead of customers. "Inappropriate" AAA games are the norm and have been for over a decade

Phew, glad Jim could keep his $250 Million net worth! How else would he be able to afford multiple mansions? Those 900 employees losing their job and payment and risking losing their houses and well beings was worth it!

Too many old franchises left to rot on the Playstation front in chasing that Last of Us remaster, Spiderman, and live service (Helldivers is exempt) money. Use that leftover money for that plz.

I mean, hate to see it happen, but they had 12 live service games in development, cancelled at least 6, scaled back the others to standard releases, cut back hardware sales predictions and confirmed no major first party releases for 2024. Given all that ... 900 seems smaller then expected. Or, sadly, like a "first wave".

But hey, I guess the bright side is that unlike most of the tech layoffs that have been the result of blind greed as companies making record profits laid people off to have a nicer looking balance sheet, these are the result of chronic poor management! That seems ... better somehow?

So... why is this a Nintendo Life news?

@N8tiveT3ch It's the hangover from the pandemic. Gaming boomed over lockdown, companies massively over hired to try and keep up. Lockdown finished and so did the boom. It happened outside of gaming - Devs were being hired on silly money - it was called the great resignation and smaller companies got screwed when loads of devs left for big money. To me seemed for clearly unsustainable salaries.

Turns out they were.

So end of boom, end of pandemic and people are gaming less plus cost of living so people are buying less luxury things like games...add in overstaffed companies with people on big money...and game development costs going nuts...

This was always coming unfortunately

@DarkCoolEdge because of the clicks

@KnightsTemplar I've realized lately that 90% of what I play on PS5 are PS4 games. Because I'd rather play Sekiro at 60 fps than most other things.

@Anti-Matter you really need to stop trying to twist every announcement in favour of the same opinion everytime. Likes of Bluey and Paw Patrol aren't shifting PlayStation consoles, are multiplatform releases, don't appeal to Sonys target audience at all and they exist on PlayStation without Sony having to make them..You could argue Sonys spending too much on likes of tent pole releases like Spiderman and the last of us etc but that's what is keeping Sony ahead of Xbox sales.

It's just really rare that a big AAA game excited me anymore. The last one was Suicide Squad, and then news came that it was a live service, so yeeeeeah...

this industry is making more and more money each year, even more than the movie industry, and they still treat people like crap

@Kekshook that’s actually a good thing, many great games in the last 30 years came from small teams, as it encouraged more creative thinking. Fewer came from sweatshops like the Assassin’s Creed teams or others that make blockbusters

@Anti-Matter more AAA games mean more work opportunities for people, small indie games like Stardew Valley don't help employment.

Sony Pictures could make a movie out of this debacle.

Best wishes to all those who lost their jobs though. Hope they all find an alternative!

@Anti-Matter yeah, some of us like mature and deeper games that make us think and feel about the characters and story long after we've put the controller down.
ive recently completed life is strange and it's dlc and ive never played anything like it because days/weeks after completing it, i was still thinking about it and the choices i made.
it never would have had the same impact if it had been a brightly coloured 2d platformer.

Gaming has become too much Internet based, expensive, and “playable movie.”

Just blatantly unsustainable development. All of the studios listed make multi-million selling games, they shouldn't be doing this.

This is why I think AAA development is screwy. They're getting some of the highest sales of any game publishers/developers AND they're STILL laying people off.

If you took any one of the 10million selling games split the same level of sales between 100 indie or AA developers, each selling ~100k they'd ALL be considered marvellous successes and the industry would be considered growing not shrinking.

@Anti-Matter how are AAA games instantly inappropriate? I agree that there should me more family kids games, I think Astro bot might be a great contender for that. I also love to play those games in between the bigger AAA games. However games like Bluey, Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig are way to short to appeal to a large market, besides it fans, because they are way to short.

I bought all those games for my kids and even though they loved Bluey and Paw Patrol, they finished the games in just 4-5 hours. That's 40 euro for very short games. It made me upgrade my PS+ to extra just for those games for them. I think alot of parents think the same, those games don't match the costs. They're basically the licenced games of the nes ans SNES era.

I do think it's a important market and these games need a place, but you need to be realistic and see that AAA games are important and matter to way more gamers then family games.

Remember when some of the best AAA games ever made were made by a few people working in an old barn?

@CharlieZee and some of us like videogames. What's your point?

A part of me wants to shout "I told you so!" The collapse was obvious for more than a decade.

But this is not even funny, it affects real people with hopes and dreams, be that as humans may.

I remember, @quinnyboy58, I remember

@Setery I'm reminded of when MS & Sony were buying studios left & right, and investors were pressuring Nintendo to buy up other studios to compete. But Nintendo seems to have always been cautious on growth. Instead of buying Studios they seem to outsource a lot of 1st Party games to companies like Bandai Namco, and foster those relationships with the companies. Sony's not as guilty as Microsoft for snapping up random studios desperately, but they are indeed hellbent on growth and expansion to their own detriment.

@LikelySatan firstly, "then Jesus said to him: “Go away, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10) 😜
sorry, i'm started studying the bible.
Anyway, on another note, he appears to trash on triple a games and those that have a deeper experience which is ludicrous.
if we apply this to the music world, he'd do away with the likes of michael jackson and prince etc in place of a lazy town soundtrack.

@Anti-Matter Sony fired all AA developers after PS3 ended.

It's regrettable and probably will keep happening if the gaming industry doesn't move beyond the cult of the biggest and the flashiest.

@Pigeon that’s a choice made by the management, though.

Nintendo is doing incredibly good. Meanwhile, Jim Ryan from Playstation: ‘why would anyone play old games?’
https://www.vg247.com/why-would-anybody-play-this-says-sonys-jim-ryan-about-backwards-compatibility

@Kekshook I understand your point, however the way things are now with the whole gaming industry, a reset would be welcome. I haven’t been interested in the AAA gaming for almost 10 years, as the more recent trends didn’t appeal to me the way many games in the 2000s or early-to-mid 2010s did. AAA gaming landscape has become less and less diverse, oversaturated with open-worlds, remakes and live-service games.
I miss the times when game devs actually tried to innovate in terms of mechanics and not only making the graphics more realistic. For example, HFW is, in my view, one of the best looking games I have ever played, but I don’t intend to beat it as it BORES me to death. The story is way too twisted and uninteresting compared to ZD, and don’t get me started with how preachy and obnoxious Aloy can be. Sure, not every modern game is Horizon, there are worse sinners out there.

@Anti-Matter But people like that stuff, and like it or not those “inappropriate” games are definitely selling more then games blaze and the like blaze and the monster machines, so that’s definitely not the issue their because the market is in fact their for those kind of games.

@Martijn87 I mean, you can definately spend 40-60 bucks on a game that's infinitely replayable like a arcade driven title. I know I spend 20 hours with DeathSmiles and that game only lasts 30 minutes to an hour, but addictively so.

But yeah, knowing how companies treat those IPs, I bet they put very little thought into it and just treat them like another day of school.

@Samalik that's true, but those games are designed to be replayed. They also, most of the time, have a learning curve, and you get better with it every time you play it. Especially the games of the past and those that are based on those. However with most kids games you can't die ( lose lives) or get hurt in any way. You just walk from point a to b and collect a couple of things. That's basically it, there's no thing or challenge to overcome. Even my 2 year old can play these games with little help, but her older sisters have no interest in it anymore.

While I feel for the employees, why is this article on a Nintendo site?

@Pigeon lol, i would never buy a last of us plushie 😅

AAA gaming is finally dying, while Nintendo is releasing obscure low budget game like Another Code and Endless Ocean and they are THRIVING, hopefully everyone else will follow their lead

@KryptoniteKrunch Just remember when they're touting their sales milestones, how much money they've reduced prices by to achieve them.

PS5 had massive price cuts around the end of 2023. Compared to the pretty steady Switch (hardware and software) pricing for the entirety of its almost 7 years on sale.

Sales figures and profit figures. There's a difference.

Not saying PS5 isn't profitable. I don't know either way. But those price cuts I saw a month or two ago had a hint of "We're not selling enough of this stupidly big console" about them.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything new I’d want to play on PlayStation. I’ve had every system up to 4 but there’s nothing convincing me I need a PS5.

@Friendly Sony cares about their old games... it's just that the ones they care about are titles they don't own which include Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies. All of their legacy titles they actually own they seem to not really care much about except maybe Ratchet & Clank and God of War.

@gcunit yes but imo Nintendo always been greedy with their prices of hardware and accessories, and they could learn in that regard from the competition. Price cuts can be made because production gets cheaper, its a choice to be made to allow consumers to buy your products cheaper or get more profit by keeping the same price. It's up to debate wich option is the better one, as both have down and upsides.

I don't follow the gaming market closely enough, but are all those companies actually declining in revenue/profit? or are they laying people off just because they can?

And Iwata like most Japanese managers, cut his salary during trying times so as not to lay off staff.

Frankly, I'm surprised it's JUST 900. Sony really is a middle ground between Microsoft and Nintendo; one only hires when absolutly neccessary, the other will hire and fire an entire state in a year if it makes the stock go u pa point.

@PipeGuy64Bit seems to me you’re describing that Sony doesn’t care about their old games but 3d party does, though?

@SwitchForce Except that was always the plan with Funimation, they announced it when the merger happened, and the weird part was that it took them two years to do it after the fact. I was annoyed that they were still charging for both platforms separately even though Sony owned both.

@Setery That's exactly what I think it is. Of course, there are always going to be ebbs and flows in any kind of industry. But I've said it before. I think Nintendo, for better or worse, forecasted this moment, and it's a big part of why they made the choices they did. I mean, it was common sense that the industry just would not be able to sustain itself with the way things had been going.

What's even sad about the whole thing is that people are losing their jobs, and developers will scale back for a bit. Once things tick up, they'll start falling back into the same bad patterns, and we'll be back here again in a few years.

@Friendly Essentially which is kinda infuriating that they have that much disregard for many of their old IPs

@PipeGuy64Bit agreed.

@wanghosom Endless Ocean is triple a game, Nintendo spend a lot to get that one made.

@IronMan30 Some of those workers are or would be past/future Nintendo employees too.

@quinnyboy58 That will likely happen again, those employees that got layoff aren't going to just completely stay still, most will open their own studios or move on to work with other studios.

Thats sad for the employees I hope they find employment soon.

But talking about this I just hope it makes sony realize that live service games are not the future. I honestly think a game industry crash is needed so AAA companies can check themselves and actually go back to making good games. (even though I dont want people to lose their jobs)

One of my best friends works at one their studios and I was relieved to hear that his job is not directly affected. Still, 10% of his co-workers will have to go.

The job market is good over here, and in many places in the world, so hopefully it's just a matter of time before people land on their feet.

@IsThis5or6 Literally no. 🤦‍♂️ That's just coded, right-wing talking points that are completely baseless. Try pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into bloated game budgets, only to have it flop. Combining it with over-expansion of studios far too fast, combined with big budget games bombing. These are major culprits. It's a capitalism problem. But sure, blame minorities. Unbelievable. 🤦‍♂️

@Devann You described mobile games in a nutshell: as addictive as gambling, and so ridiculously low-budget that the end user is financing it themselves through microtransactions.

@AccessibleDaydream Mmm, no. There's a difference.

@Devann And that is?

@Devann “ I miss the old days of high-score chasing flash games. ”
I’m an old dude and don’t miss any of that. High score seeking games gave me stress more than joy

@Serpenterror Endless Ocean is AAA and they spent a lot to get it made? Where did you get that from? The developer Arika has 50 employees, the game is cheaper at 50€ and doesn't look particularly ambitious either.

The number of people getting fired across the industry recently is ridiculous.

@Setery quote
"Meanwhile Nintendo is doing just fine, actually thriving. I wonder if there's something to their model??? Maybe it's not spending exorbitant amounts of cash on game development for a mediocre game. Instead, it could be making really good games for a low-reasonable cost."

nintendo always have made the most money and are the most inovative party. there comes a time they save the industry (again).
imo the most strongest feature of nintendo is how well games and hardware seem to be conected, even though not the best looking graphics still well conected.
this and the fact they earn alot on hardware, while competitors have to sell 4 cycles to get out of expenses, put software sales from nintendo on top of this, you cannot have any doubt who is the stringest in the industry, even though it might not look this way.

Why is this news in a Nintendo site?

@KryptoniteKrunch Sony Entertainment, actually is on a very deplorable state. Their new president has already said that, the PS5 is not meeting their sales expectations, it's already past it's life middle cycle, and that it will start putting more titles on other platforms. The media is the one that wants to make seem that the PS5 is doing extremely well, but the situation is otherwise.

@Bret Took them two years probably because of the Digital copies that people bought on Funimation. That are now gonna be gone for those who bought them.

Won't be surprised they waited this long to "lessen" the backlash for people who has digital copies on the site. Because they are not bothering converting the digital copies to Crunchyroll.(Can't remember but I thought I read on their site they were promising to convert your Funimation account to your Chrunchyroll account when they first announce the merge?)

@DarkCoolEdge Sony makes MLB The Show, which is on the Switch. So it's relevant.

Employees always seem to be the first to go. They'll be replaced with cheaper contractors and temps who have less expertise in making games.

I remember when all the puzzles and mechanics were getting praised in Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Wonder, some were crediting how long-term all Nintendo's designers are. They build up a lot of experience and company culture and heck, even guys as old as Tezuka are still working. Well, the industry's other owners are speaking loud and clear what they think of that approach.

I thought Ryan was axed from the company due to mismanagement?

He is an idiot that got Playstation in the situation it is in right now, with trying to bank everything on Live service "scam" games, which is now backfiring with a revolt from Devs within Sony's studios.

The result is that they have practically no new games currently on the PS5 release roadmap, which is insane.
They are completely reliant on 3rd party now.

Man, these execs will do anything other than take a pay cut.

@XCWarrior LOL