2024 has already been a curious year for gaming. On the one hand, multiple big-name AAA releases across all platforms have wowed gamers and critics alike, already getting people talking about the “Game of the Year” winner. However, on the other side of things, there have been THOUSANDS of layoffs industry-wide, and not just with smaller studios. There were over 5000 layoffs in January, and February has added to that. Just this week, Supermassive Games laid off staff members, and now, Sony Interactive Entertainment can add its name to the list.
In a blog post on their site, outgoing CEO Jim Ryan revealed that 900 jobs across the Sony Interactive Entertainment group worldwide would be losing their jobs in a “reduction of our overall headcount:”
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 provided the email that was sent to Sony employees, and it noted that several things could happen over the next little while as people are laid off, including the entire shutdown of PlayStation Studios London. What makes things even worse is studios such as Insomniac Games and Naughty Dogs, two of PlayStation’s biggest teams, were also hit. It feels like a slap in the face as both companies released games that carried the PlayStation brand for most of 2023 if not all of it. Titles such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, were several of the brightest 1st party games from PlayStation. Despite this, neither studio was immune to the layoffs.
Sadly, many within the game industry saw things like this coming. Microsoft did layoffs due to their Activision Blizzard Merger (which is being investigated by the FTC), and The Embracer Group has tried to “smooth talk” over why they’re continuing to lay off people.
But the common denominator is that many of these big companies, including Microsoft and Sony, are making AAA titles with budgets in the hundreds of millions and hoping each one brings back significant profit. While they have succeeded with certain games by doing this, others, including several in 2023, have backfired because they didn’t do that. Thus, we’re likely to see more layoff news like this in the near future with even more companies.
