PlayStation is cutting 900 jobs from Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios

It’s another dark day for the gaming industry as there is more news about . This time it gutted his studios. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is laying off about 900 employees from its PlayStation division, roughly 8 percent of that division’s workforce.

Insomniac (Spider-Man and Ratchet and Clank), Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and Guerrilla (Horizon) are affected by the cuts. These studios are behind some of PlayStation’s most important franchises. For example, within three and a half months, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 10 million units have been sold.

Sony’s London studio where he worked for PlayStation 5, is shutting down completely, while Firesprite will also lose some staff. Additionally, PlayStation will lay off employees from its technology, creative and support teams.

US PlayStation employees who are losing their jobs will be notified today. Sony will adhere to local laws and regulations for layoffs in other territories — the company says people in all its global regions will be affected.

“After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it became clear that changes needed to be made to continue to grow the business and grow the company,” Jim Ryan told staff in an email. “We had to step back, take a holistic look at our business and move forward, focusing on the long-term sustainability of the company and providing the best possible experience for our community. The goal is to streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and ability to deliver the experiences gamers and creators expect from us.”

Meanwhile, Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, said SIE’s management has assessed its studios and portfolio and looked at projects that are in various stages of development. Some of these projects have already been cancelled. Hulst did not provide further details, but the projects that have been canned certainly include the one London Studio is working on.

“I want to be clear that the decision to stop working on these projects is not a reflection on the talent or passion of the team members,” Hulst writes in a note. “Our philosophy has always been to allow creative experimentation. Sometimes great ideas don’t make great games. Sometimes a project is started with the best of intentions before changes within the market or industry cause the plan to change.”

Hulst also noted that SIE is reevaluating its approach to delivering the kinds of expensive blockbuster single-player games that PlayStation has become known for over the past decade, and balancing that with its desire to create long-tail multiplayer games. “Delivering the compelling, narrative stories that PlayStation Studios is known for at the level of quality we strive for requires re-evaluating the way we work,” Hulst wrote. “Delivering and maintaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices and mobile devices requires a different approach and different resources.”

Sony offers several live games and plans to release 10 of them by 2026. At least one of them — — was postponed. However, the company has had some success on the live services front, with becoming one of the biggest hits of the year so far.

However, Sony doesn’t plan to release any sequels to its main first-party franchises until at least April next year. It relies on third-party titles such as and on to help cover gaps in its own pipeline. The company also for the current fiscal year ending March 31. It expects to sell 21 million consoles in fiscal 2023, down from a previous estimate of 25 million.

With this set of layoffs, the total number of jobs lost in the games industry so far this year exceeds 7,000 (we’re not even into March yet). This is in addition to more than 9,000 people being laid off from the industry in 2023.

Microsoft made massive layoffs in its gaming division in January. , , (which is adjacent to games instead of games company), , Dead by Daylight developer and are also among those who have made layoffs.