Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 employees

Sony Interactive Entertainment will lay off 900 employees starting today, according to a press release shared this morning written by SIE President & CEO Jim Ryan. The layoff will affect about 8% of SIE’s worldwide workforce in the Americas, Japan, EMEA, and APAC.

“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.”

Ryan also shared a copy of the email sent out to the PlayStation community. He goes into a few specific details.

Employees in the US affected by the layoff will be notified today. In the UK, the PlayStation London Studio will be closed completely, along with reductions at Firesprite Studio, with other reductions “in various functions across SIE in the UK.” In Japan, the company will “implement a next career support program.” In other countries, SIE will start conversations with those employees “potentially at risk or impacted as a result of this proposed course of action.”

According to its LinkedIn profile, London Studio is “currently working on an unannounced online co-op combat game, set in Modern Fantasy London.” However, no new posts have been made available on their LinkedIn company page today yet.

A post written by Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, stated the impacted studios in the US are Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, as well as the Technology, Creative, and Support teams. About Europe, he also added that Guerrilla and not just Firesprite Studio will experience reductions.

[Source]: SIE Blog: Difficult News About Our Workforce – [Archive] – [Screenshot]; An Important Update from PlayStation Studios – [Archive] – [Screenshot]. PlayStation London Studio (LinkedIn): [Archive] – [Screenshot].