PlayStation laying off 900 people, closing London Studio entirely

PlayStation laying off 900 people, closing London Studio entirely

Sony Interactive Entertainment is laying off around 900 workers, or 8% of the company, outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan said in a news release published on Tuesday. Employees from all regions — North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Japan; and Asia-Pacific — are impacted by the cuts, including several PlayStation development studios. London Studio, the in-house team that created the SingStar series, will close entirely, Ryan said.

“These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions,” Ryan said in the news release. “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.”

Impacted employees from the United States will be notified on Tuesday, Ryan said in an email to staff published on the Sony Interactive Entertainment website. United Kingdom labor laws require companies to enter a period of consultation before layoffs are made final; the London studio closure, layoffs at Firesprite Studio, and other redundancies are “proposed” for now. Japanese employees will have access to a “a next career support program,” Ryan said. Sony Interactive Entertainment did not detail the other studios and departments impacted by the cuts.

Ryan said impacted employees will “receive support, including severance benefits,” but did not elaborate further.

PlayStation Studios’ London Studio was founded in 2002 as a first-party PlayStation developer; it developed gangster epic The Getaway, music game SingStar, and games for the PlayStation webcam like EyePet before moving on to virtual reality games for PlayStation VR. Firesprite was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2021; it also worked on virtual reality games, like Horizon Call of the Mountain, among other things.

“While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand, or our industry,” Ryan said in the letter to staff. “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.”

The workplace cuts come shortly after Sony’s recent financial report, wherein Sony chief operating officer and president Hiroki Totoki said that Sony Interactive Entertainment has no “major projects” due for release before March 2025. Totoki will take over as Sony Interactive Entertainment’s interim CEO when Ryan leaves the PlayStation business in April. Speaking during the financial presentation, Totoki spoke about PlayStation’s first-party studios, saying there’s “room for improvement” with how these studios spend money, schedule development, and stay accountable toward development pipelines.

The video game industry has been particularly volatile over the past several years. This has created an industry crisis, adding to the pressures of an already challenging profession. According to an industry tracker, more than 7,000 people have been laid off in 2024 alone — a number that is quickly approaching the more than 10,500 people laid off in 2023.