It’s no secret that the gaming industry isn’t doing well right now, and even with “big news” regarding the PS5 Pro, gamers as a whole aren’t impressed with what Sony and Microsoft are doing currently. They are just some of the publishers and developers who have laid off hundreds, if not thousands, of workers in the last few years, and gamers want the suffering to stop. However, if you were to ask Chris Deering, the former head of PlayStation Europe, and the man who helped launch the PS1, he would tell those who were laid off…to go drive an Uber.
Yes, really. This came from a chat on the My Perfect Console podcast, where everything started out fine, with Chris Deering focusing on the launch of the PS1 and beyond. Then, when the topic turned to the current state of the gaming industry, he waved off the PROVEN concepts of greed being behind the layoffs:
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed. I always tried to minimise the speed with which we added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle, and I didn’t want to end up having the same problems that Sony did in electronics.”
While that latter part is fair, that doesn’t apply to what’s happening now. There is a “cycle” regarding game development in which people are brought in and out due to how games are made. The DIFFERENCE, is that greedy overlords like The Embracer Group, or even Sony and Microsoft to certain extents, attempted to buy up all sorts of studios to bring in profit, then when they didn’t, or didn’t meet expectations, they were gutted or shut down.
To that end, regarding those who did lose their jobs due to the NUMEROUS layoffs over the past two years alone, Deering had this to say:
“It’s still where the action is, and it’s like the pandemic, but now you’re going to have to take a few… figure out how to get through it. Drive an Uber or whatever, go off to find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year.
This is insulting on numerous levels. First of all, this is coming from the guy who used to run a branch of PlayStation, so his job was always secure. Second, Chris Deering isn’t someone who was let go by these layoffs and doesn’t have to worry about money issues more than likely. So, how this comes off is YET ANOTHER CEO/leader of a company saying that the “little people” need to “get over it” and just move on. Except, that’s not how it works, and people are suffering in the gaming industry because they can’t say for certain whether their next job will last, or whether they have to fear getting laid off AGAIN, or whether their studio will be gone in a few months.
In other words, people like Deering are the reason this industry, among others, isn’t doing well because they can’t empathize with those who are going through these painful times.
