PlayStation has announced that it is laying off about 900 people, which is roughly 8% of its workforce, and as you might imagine for restructuring of that scale, studios across the entire company are going to be affected, including some of the biggest names under the PlayStation Studios banner.
The information was shared by PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst in an update published on the official Sony Interactive Entertainment website, where he wrote, “These decisions have been extremely difficult, but they are necessary, and I think it’s important to be transparent.”
In the US, the studios that will be affected are Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, as well as PlayStation’s Technology, Creative, and Support teams.
Naughty Dog recently confirmed that it had cancelled its long-in-development standalone multiplayer project The Last of Us Online. The studio said at the time of its cancellation that it was working on multiple major single player projects.
Insomniac Games, on the other hand, released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 last October. In addition to becoming one of the studio’s best-reviewed games of all time, the game has also seen impressive sales, having sold over 10 million units worldwide.
Moving outside of the US, first-party European studios will also be affected, with Hulst stating that layoffs are also “proposed” at Horizon developer Guerrilla and Firesprite, which was acquired by PlayStation in 2021. In addition, SIE London Studio is set to be shuttered entirely.
In addition, there will also be “some smaller reductions in other teams across PlayStation Studios”, as per Hulst.
“PlayStation 5 is in its fourth year, and we are at a stage where we need to step back and look at what our business needs,” he wrote. “At the same time, our industry has experienced continuing and fundamental change which affects how we all create, and play, games.
“Delivering the immersive, narrative-driven stories that PlayStation Studios is known for, at the quality bar that we aspire to, requires a re-evaluation of how we operate.
“Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources.
“To take on these challenges, PlayStation Studios had to grow. We have brought brilliant and successful Studios into our family. We have invested in new technology and partnerships. We have recruited talent from across our industry and beyond.
“But growth itself is not an ambition. PlayStation Studios is committed to continually discovering ways to work together; collaborating and combining our efforts to ensure that we are able to craft games that push the boundaries of play and deliver what you expect from us.
“We looked at our studios and our portfolio, evaluating projects in various stages of development, and have decided that some of those projects will not move forward.”
The full extent of which projects across PlayStation Studios have been cancelled hasn’t yet become clear. Stay tuned for continued updates.