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.”
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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
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