Sony’s Visual Arts Studio Hit by Layoffs: Support Teams Suffer Job Cuts

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Summary

  • Sony has laid off several developers from PlayStation’s Visual Arts Group support team.
  • The job cuts also extend to PlayStation Studio Malaysia, a newer support team that was established in 2020.
  • These support studio layoffs may have ties to the recently-canceled live-service games from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.

Sony appears to have reduced its workforce significantly within the PlayStation department, although the exact number remains unknown. It is said that the majority of these layoffs are concentrated in the Visual Arts Group and Malaysia Studio, two support teams working closely with the main gaming development studios under the PlayStation brand.

2024, I was hit by some tough news as a gamer when Sony announced layoffs affecting around 900 of their PlayStation team members, which accounted for about 8% of the workforce at that time. Later in the year, they shut down mobile game developer Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios, known for developing Concord. To add to it, in January 2025, Sony decided to cancel two upcoming PlayStation games from studios Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, which were part of their first-party teams. Although they assured the studios wouldn’t be closed down, the game cancellations seem to have had a ripple effect, affecting support teams within PlayStation.

As a devoted fan, I was dismayed when Abby LeMaster, a former project manager at PlayStation Visual Arts, shared on LinkedIn that several talented developers from their San Diego support studio were let go on Monday. This news struck hard, as it seems they dismissed individuals with decades of expertise and skill that will be challenging to replace.

Further investigation by Kotaku suggests that these layoffs were not isolated incidents but rather widespread across PlayStation Visual Arts. It’s reported that some affected developers had been working on projects like Bend Studios’ live-service game, which was recently canceled. However, the job cuts at Visual Arts seem to extend beyond those projects, hinting at a larger downsizing initiative.

Two PlayStation Support Studios Impacted by Layoffs

Sadly, the situation doesn’t improve as the layoffs have also reached PlayStation’s Studio Malaysia, a team that was set up in 2020. The senior project manager at PlayStation Studio Malaysia, Johann Mahfoor, announced on LinkedIn that he was among those who lost their jobs. He described it as a significant reduction in workforce that affected not only Malaysia but also other international PlayStation teams. There were rumors suggesting that Studio Malaysia was involved in the development of Bluepoint’s now-canceled game, which might be the reason behind the recent job losses within the support team.

2024 proved to be a challenging year for the gaming industry, as over 14,500 positions were eliminated across various studios and publishers globally. This number, coupled with layoffs in 2022 and 2023, now stands at more than 33,500 job losses over a three-year period. The significant increase in layoffs in recent times can be attributed to financial expectations needing readjustment following the pandemic’s surge in consumer spending. Unfortunately, it appears this trend of job cuts may persist into 2025, with companies like Warner Bros. Games recently closing down three studios.

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2025-03-05 21:40