Update []: It looks like Sony support team PS Studios Malaysia has also been struck by layoffs, as reported by NMIA Gaming.
The site claims approximately 18 staff have been let go, ranging from artists all the way through to project managers.
Apparently, staff were told the layoffs were not due to performance, but rather a reduction to the overall workforce.
We’ll check with Sony to try and get confirmation.
Original Story: Sony may be healthier than ever when it comes to its balance sheets, but the pursuit of more profits never truly goes away.
Sadly, that’s resulted in more job losses at PlayStation’s acclaimed Visual Arts division, a first-party development group which provides motion capture, art, animation, and much more for its stable of studios. Most notably, it worked closely with Naughty Dog on its various The Last of Us projects.
Kotaku reports that the job losses include some staff who worked on Bend Studio’s recently cancelled project, although a source told the site that the layoffs were “more widespread than that”. We’ll update if we learn more.
PlayStation’s recently gone through a big readjustment period, cancelling the aforementioned Days Gone follow-up from Bend Studio as well as a supposed live service God of War game by Bluepoint. All of this follows the calamitous release of Concord, which failed so badly it released and was shut down within a matter of weeks.
While the platform holder is plotting a big year for PS5, with major first-party releases like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei planned, it’ll be privately licking its wounds, as it reels from a live service strategy that’s been a bit of a non-starter beyond the record-breaking success of Helldivers 2.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 39
Presumably some of these people would still be employed and working on Factions in an alternate reality- a (fact?) which I will lament annoyingly at every opportunity on internet forums . No Factions is truly the worst timeline. Please God Factions with or after Part 3
@zhoont
Sony should have just released Factions 2 as part of The Last of Us 2 in a similar way that Factions 1 was integrated with The Last of Us 1. Just a plain and regular multiplayer mode, with a few cosmetic micro-transactions sprinkled on top.
@breakneck It's the American one, yes.
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@PuppetMaster Questionable journalism aside, Kotaku has plenty of inside sources. So there's not much reason to doubt their report, especially when it aligns with current realities in the gaming industry and doesn't explicitly push any sort of agenda. Misinformation elsewhere on the platform about Mr. Beast doesn't really change that.
Also, talking about questionable journalism: That Park Place, mate? Not that that specific, drawn out article is guilty of anything besides unsolicited soapboxing, but I would still caution against using it as any sort of means to question the integrity of another outlet.
Now, since I have an excuse to talk about this Mr. Beast thing you've just made me aware of, as someone who doesn't get to travel, I still kinda take offense to his original comment. Like, I get it, it's very exhausting, and most of his traveling is for business. But still, I would kill to be in that position, rather than my current position of only having left my state a handful of times in my life and having never left my home country. So, while his real comment is no where near as egregious as the Kotaku doctored one, it still gives off the same energy. And while I wouldn't hold him fully accountable for some personal venting he did without thinking on a podcast, it was still a pretty out-of-touch and ungrateful thing to say. Even just him complaining about being famous in the fallout of Kotaku's s***; like, my mans, you're one of the most successful, richest influencers in the world. You can complain — that's your right — but never forget this insane level of privilege afforded to you. And, if you really have a problem with your success, you can always retire. No one is forcing you to keep up this persona.
How tf are you laying off people after making 11 billion in revenue in just one quarter?
This smacks to me as an excuse to can first-world jobs in order to pivot to cheaper devs in less unionised countries. Could see a lot of Eastern companies scaling back their American operations anyway for obvious reasons.
This isn't quite accurate. Yes it's true PlayStation had record profits and revenues but their profit margin, though better than it was, still isn't amazing (just 7% in Q3 FY2024). But Sony also have a humungous amount of debt, around $27.88 billion USD.
They aren't in a bad place, but they also have many issues to overcome. It isn't ALL rosy at Sony.
I don't want to sound ignorant, but if you are running a business, now might be the time to re-evaluate how much of it you want to have located in the US.
This sucks for regular working folk, but at the same time if you decide to push you need to expect to be shoved.
@Godot25 it’s common to change the scale of one division even when the company itself has made money. I’m not saying it’s right but it happens all the time.
@get2sammyb It's not the first time I've seen Death stranding 2 describes as first party on PushSquare. It should be considered an exclusive, not a first party, since Kojima production is an independent studio and owns the IP.
PlayStation has fallen far from the first party output and quality they offered with the PS3 generation.
Uncharted 1-3
TLoU
Resistance 1-3
Infamous 1-2 & Vampire DLC
LBP 1-3
Motorstorm 1-3
GoW 3 & Ascension
Puppeteer
Gran Turismo
Motorstorm 1-3
Ratchet and Clank
Twisted Metal
Killzone 3
Etc
@OmegaStriver the development cycles for big AAA games has almost doubled since then
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The constant over dramatisation of lay offs in the industry has been tedious to read for a while now.
The people that lost their job have done so because their job was no longer required, nobody is going to pay people to do nothing in any industry.
If you work in a factory producing one thing with staff that has skills tailored to producing that one thing and that company suddenly ceases producing that product, there's no use for those employed specifically to produce that product anymore so of course they're going to lay them off. What's a person employed to make background art for a now cancelled game going to do everyday?
@zhoont You can't just put random developers on a project and get good results.
@nessisonett if the biggest market has import tariffs, a smart firm would want to create jobs inside that market, rather than lay people off and move them outside.
Of course with digital software I don’t know how that is classified as an import or not.
Another good way to retain those developer jobs inside your home country, is to tackle cost push inflation drivers like energy costs etc.
Essentially you want to prevent a global transfer of the type seen between California and Texas.
That said, I don’t remotely believe these job losses are due a desire to move to low cost territories.
It’s management bungling, poor decision making on projects and over recruiting during the pandemic.
The legacy of Jim Ryan continues.
@R_Ryder PushSquarians loved him
The new hotness right now is china gaming developers, there's suddenly a lot AAA games from china emerging from playstation showcase, like tides of annihilation. I think most investors will stay away from western and goes to china/east gaming now.
@Godot25 Maybe because those devs isn't the one that made those billions revenue, they're the one that made negative revenue on the company.
Concord tax has to be paid not only by players but also other devs i see :/
@Godot25 the majority of people that get laid off are temp workers working on a contract for 1 or 2 games. if that game gets canceled they get laid off because thats why they were hired to work on that certain game.
I hope Sony actually learns from the mistake that was Concord, but we havent seen Fairgames in a bit but still active so likely not
@RoomWithaMoose I agree with all of your points. That being said, Jimmy legitimately loves being a sociopath that walks over people while acting like his life is a burden. There’s no drive to retire because even his complaints are veiled mockeries of people who aren’t as successful as him. He’s a jerk, and people who idolize him remind me of Jonestown. Not that Jimmy is crazy enough to do that.
@wiiware that’s also largely the fault of western devs. The rise in social media megaphones being provided to unhinged developers (that Starfield guy comes to mind), the surge in live service garbage that gets canned before a year, etc all led to a void in the market that used to be filled by those same studios. Of course China, Korea, etc will see it as a golden opportunity. I’ve no love for AI, granted, and china has no issue abusing that but these games are looking really good.
Most of these people are most likely hired to work on 1or 2 games then would be free again anyway, game canceled no job..that's it really. Also if something is draining money in your company you remove it, again simple. If you had your own business you'd do the same or you want to lose money to be "nice and caring"
@RagnarLothbrok probably not for long. I expect a cancellation. There’s probably some reluctance due to the names attached (jade raymond) but I also see the game as neither interesting or aesthetically appealing. Just looks like more uninspired rubbish designed to be flashy with no substance.
Jim Ryan's mess. He pushed for GaaS like crazy. Good that he got axed from PS. He will not be missed.
@KeanuReaves I didn't say they wouldn't be working with Naughty Dog still, I'm discussing the alternate reality where Intergalactic gets paused while Naughty Dog and these devs finish Factions
@Coffeeglitch Yup, you won't see japanese, chinese, or korean developers go against their customers on social media, it's only western devs that does this, which I think is weird.
@wiiware at risk of getting political, the reason for this is that Asian cultures prioritize function over feelings or sentiment. There’s a reason work ethic amongst Asian communities is so dang good, they simply don’t care about whether something is going to disrupt social norms but rather care about the efficiency of their duties and quality of their work. The west has become overly sensitive and sentimental, and that’s why there’s so much social commentary in games these days.
It’s not a bad thing, but I want to enjoy games as an aside to real life. Not to somehow fall prey to talk no jutsu. A good developer produces good results, which means happy consumers who will buy their product, resulting in a better developer by way of profits. Rinse and repeat.
Asian markets understand this. The west seems to have forgotten that. If your product doesn’t sell well, it’s not because people hate you personally. It’s because your product wasn’t good enough. So do better.
@wiiware
I think most investors will stay away from western and goes to china/east gaming now
God I hope not. It's investors and shareholders that strangle creativity with their demand for safe-bets.
Dont worry people no CEO will lose its job.
@Coffeeglitch No in China you can say and whatever you want.
@OmegaStriver while a lot of those games were pretty great , most of them failed to sell. motorstorm 1, 2 and 3 only sold 6 million copies as a series. the entire resistance series was 8.51 million , infamous 1 and 2 did like 5 million copies. if people supported these games more they would still be around. to put this in perspective , horizon zero dawn sold over 30 million copies alone.
@twitchtvpat Well, back then they must’ve been pretty happy with the sales considering they made multiple sequels.
@get2sammyb according to detective seeds on twitter who's usually right when it comes to rumors and leaks ai being used in development is a reason as to y the visual arts studio has had layoffs since the technology has made some jobs redundant
@Thumper I mean, nintendo also have shareholders and investors but they seems fine, and sony ps1-ps4 era also have it, they also seems fine. I think it's fine as long as the shareholders doesn't demand esg initiative or something weird like that.
I wonder if Bend Studios is next, when the $50 Days Gone remaster sells only like 50 copies.
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