Sony Fires 900 Employees Following Notice Of Declining PlayStation Sales

Sony PlayStation said that it was letting go of 8% of its employees worldwide as the tech sector continues to see a wave of layoffs. Announcing the “sad news,” Jim Ryan, the CEO of PlayStation, stated that 900 employees worldwide, including video game production companies, would be impacted by the cutbacks. The business stated that, as a result of the changes, its PlayStation London studio—which was established in 2002 and focused on virtual reality game projects—would close completely. According to a different statement, Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, two US studios, were also affected.

As the firm concentrated on PC and mobile games, Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, stated that additional resources were required. “Our guiding principle has always been to welcome innovative innovation. Excellent games don’t always emerge from excellent ideas,” Hulst continued. The PlayStation 5, the company’s main platform, is currently in its fourth year of sales. Sony warned earlier this month that sales would fall short of initial projections, which prompted the reductions.

“Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” was a big hit for Sony’s video game division. It was the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios title on its first day of sale when it was published on the PS5 in October of last year. However, the PlayStation 5 is up against fierce competition from the Nintendo Switch and may face even more pressure from Microsoft’s Xbox following the latter’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company that makes “Call of Duty.” Microsoft announced in January that it was consolidating the Activision acquisition and would be laying off 1,900 employees, or 8% of the workforce, from its gaming group. Layoffs in the tech sector resulted in a total of 260,000 jobs being lost last year. FYI, a website tracking the industry is situated in California. The website indicated that there have been 43,957 layoffs from 171 organizations so far this year.