Sony is the latest company in the video game industry to announce massive layoffs in 2024. We’ve learned that Sony Interactive Entertainment is letting go of about 900 people across several studios; PlayStation’s London Studio will shut down as a result.
In a blog post, soon-to-depart Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan says these cuts amount to about 8% of PlayStation’s workforce. “Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable,” Ryan explains. “The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success.”
Sony has confirmed that these cuts will impact several PlayStation studios around the world. In the U.S., Ryan says affected employees will be contacted today. In Japan, it plans to “implement a next career support program.” In the U.K., Ryan explains that Sony is entering “a period of collective consultation before any final decisions are taken,” but also outlined what the company plans to do. That includes layoffs at Horizon Call of the Mountain developer Firesprite and “various functions across SIE,” as well as the complete shuttering of PlayStation’s London Studio.
London Studio was founded in 2002 and made a name for itself with the PS2’s EyeToy peripheral and SingStar. In the 2010s, it pivoted to VR and was the studio behind PlayStation VR games like Blood & Truth (pictured above) and PlayStation VR Worlds. It didn’t make any games for Sony’s second VR headset, though. Instead, it was working on a live service fantasy game. Now, it seems like that title and no future projects from London Studio will see the light of day.
Across 2023 and 2024, over 17,000 video game developers have lost their jobs. Just this week alone, we’ve also learned about the closure of Saltsea Chronicles studio Gute De Fabrik and layoffs at Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games.
