This morning, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced that the company was planning to initiate an “organizational restructuring” that would result in the elimination of 900 positions at the company. These Sony layoffs affect SIE branches all over the world, and they include the reduction of Horizon: Call of the Mountain developer Firesprite and the closure of PlayStation Studios’ London Studio.
The news was shared on SIE’s blog this morning, with Jim Ryan himself writing to announce that the company was planning to reduce their overall headcount by roughly 8%, amounting to just about 900 employees. Jim Ryan also included a copy of the company-wide email that was sent out earlier today, which you can read here:
Team,
It is important to provide you with updates about the business as often as possible. Today, I am writing with sad news. Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable. The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success.
After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it has become clear changes need to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company. We had to step back, look at our business holistically, and move forward focusing on the long-term sustainability of the company and delivering the best experiences possible for our community. The goal is to streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and ability to deliver experiences gamers and creators have come to expect from us.
I want to be as transparent as possible with you, our partners, and our community about what this means:
- We envision reducing our headcount by about 900 people, or about 8% of our current workforce
- There will be impact for employees across all SIE regions – Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC
- Several PlayStation Studios are affected
I know that receiving this news will be hard and unsettling and you are wondering what this means for you. Timelines and procedures for how we approach this will vary based on your location due to local laws and regulations.
- For those of you in the US, all impacted employees will be notified today.
- In the UK, it is proposed:
- That PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will close in its entirety;
- That there will be reductions in Firesprite studio;
- And that there will be reductions in various functions across SIE in the UK.
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.
- 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.
For those who will be leaving SIE: You are leaving this company with our deepest respect and appreciation for all your efforts during your tenure.
For those who will be staying at SIE: We will be saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that we cherish during this process, and this will be painful. Your resilience, sensitivity, and adaptiveness will be critical in the weeks and months to come.
This will not be easy, and I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing. 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
As the letter shares, London Studio will be closing entirety as a result of this reorganization. Their studio was previously responsible for titles such as SingStar and Blood & Truth, two of PlayStation’s more unique titles. Additionally, Firesprite is receiving a staff reduction, though the exact amount is currently unclear.
In a separate blog post from Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst, the company announced that first-party studios such as Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla Games would also be affected by the layoffs. PlayStation’s US based Technology, Creative, and Support teams are amongst those set to suffer from the changes as well.
For those of you keeping count, Sony’s latest chop brings the grand total of video game related layoffs in 2024 to somewhere around 7,300 jobs. Their primary competitor Microsoft laid off 8% of its workforce as well back in January. In an industry as massive as ours, it’s alarming to see such a monumental number of job cuts in such a short amount of time, let alone after a year that was already chock-full of layoffs and closures. It’s flat-out awful. There’s no other way to say it.
While we hope the trend of mass layoffs and studio closures ends soon, it’s likely that we’ll see plenty more as the year goes on. We’ll make sure to keep our readers in the loop here at MP1st.
Source: Sony Interactive Entertainment
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