Kotaku, a technology media outlet, shared in a blog post published yesterday (March 5) that while Sony has achieved success in the single-player game space, it has not been able to achieve the same success in the live service game space, and the consequences of this will be severe. Employees will pay the price of failure with their jobs.
Sony has begun massive layoffs again after canceled games
After the massive failure of the Concord project, Sony has decided to reevaluate its plans for multiplayer online games and reduce the size of the relevant teams. It was also reported that a spin-off game related to the God of War series was also canceled. In fact, this wave of layoffs could be the biggest step since Sony laid off more than 900 employees in 2024.
Sony’s first-party developer Visual Arts began layoffs this week, and the teams affected cover a wide range. While Sony has not yet commented on the matter, posts on LinkedIn from several current and former PlayStation developers confirm that layoffs have begun across multiple project teams.
In fact, former Visual Arts project manager Abby LeMaster said in a post:
“I was saddened to learn this morning that many of my friends and former colleagues were laid off. PSVA laid off developers with decades of professional experience, and it will be difficult to replace these talents. The games industry is full of uncertainty, but the skills, experience, and passion of the colleagues I work with at PSVA are indisputable.”
If you ask who LeMaster is, he was involved in the development of famous franchises such as Uncharted and The Last of Us. On top of all this, PlayStation Studios Malaysia also reported layoffs. The studio’s senior project manager Johann Affendy Mahfoor confirmed that the support studio was experiencing a “wave” of layoffs. The studio was also involved in the development of projects such as Star Wars and The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
