Sony has announced that it will lay off about 900 employees from its PlayStation division, which represents 8% of its global workforce. As part of the downsizing, the company will close its London game studio, and Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Insomniac and Firesprite will be the hardest hit.
The company will cut roles in all regions in which it operates — the Americas, Japan, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. The layoffs will happen in the coming weeks and months.
“After careful evaluation and many discussions among leadership over several months, it has become clear that we need to make changes in order for the business to continue to grow and the company to continue to develop,” said Jim Ryan, head of the PlayStation division.
In another part of the text, Ryan assesses that “the industry has changed immensely, and we need to be ready for the future, preparing the business for what lies ahead.” The executive says that, for this, it was necessary to take a step back to ensure that the company will continue to “bring the best gaming experiences to the community”.
PS5 is at the “end of the cycle”, says vice president
The announcement of the cuts comes two weeks after Sony cut its projection for the PlayStation 5’s fiscal 2023 sales from 25 million to 21 million units. The division’s operating profit was down 26% from the year-ago quarter. The results were poor despite the launch of the PS5 Slim.
Naomi Matsuoka, Sony’s senior vice president, said the console is past the halfway point of its life cycle and that the pace of sales is expected to slow from now on. Therefore, the company will try to balance sales and profit. Since then, the company’s market value has plummeted by $10 billion.
