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Update 1:

Jim Ryan's full email:

Email


Subject: Important Update Regarding Organizational Restructuring


Team,


It is important to provide you with updates about the business as often as possible. Today, I am writing with sad news. Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable. The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success.


After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it has become clear changes need to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company. We had to step back, look at our business holistically, and move forward focusing on the long-term sustainability of the company and delivering the best experiences possible for our community. The goal is to streamline our resources to ensure our continued success and ability to deliver experiences gamers and creators have come to expect from us.


I want to be as transparent as possible with you, our partners, and our community about what this means:

• We envision reducing our headcount by about 900 people, or about 8% of our current workforce
• There will be impact for employees across all SIE regions – Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC
• Several PlayStation Studios are affected

I know that receiving this news will be hard and unsettling and you are wondering what this means for you. Timelines and procedures for how we approach this will vary based on your location due to local laws and regulations.

• For those of you in the US, all impacted employees will be notified today.
• In the UK, it is proposed:
  • That PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will close in its entirety;
  • That there will be reductions in Firesprite studio;
  • And that there will be reductions in various functions across SIE in the UK.

The proposed changes mean that we will enter a period of collective consultation before any final decisions are taken. All employees who are part of the collective consultation will be made aware of the next steps today.

• In Japan, we will implement a next career support program. Details will be communicated separately.
• In other countries, we will begin conversations with those who are potentially at risk or impacted as a result of this proposed course of action.

For those who will be leaving SIE: You are leaving this company with our deepest respect and appreciation for all your efforts during your tenure.


For those who will be staying at SIE: We will be saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that we cherish during this process, and this will be painful. Your resilience, sensitivity, and adaptiveness will be critical in the weeks and months to come.


This will not be easy, and I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing. Affected employees will receive support, including severance benefits. While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand, or our industry. Our goal is to remain agile and adaptable and to continue to focus on delivering the best gaming experiences possible now and in the future.


Thank you for your understanding during this difficult period. Please be kind to yourselves and to each other.


Jim

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Update 2:

The Verge has more details including impacted studios:


https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-important-update-from-playstation-studios/

Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment initiated a reduction in our workforce – including within PlayStation Studios – and I wanted to talk about the impact that will have.

These decisions have been extremely difficult, but they are necessary, and I think it’s important to be transparent:

The US based studios and groups impacted by a reduction in workforce are:

• Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, as well as our Technology, Creative, and Support teams

In UK and European based studios, it is proposed:

• That PlayStation Studios’ London Studio will close in its entirety;
• That there will be reductions in Guerrilla and Firesprite

These are in addition to some smaller reductions in other teams across PlayStation Studios.

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[64bitmodels]

there will be more layoffs than games this year at this cadence.

 

[adamsapple]

Thanks, adding to OP.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Man, layoffs always suck.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

We tried to tell y’all.

Sucks for those losing their jobs, hope they land somewhere.

 

[GHG]

The hammer has dropped.




I'd imagine the VR teams will be hit hard.

 

[Borowski_1]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

 

[Unknown?]

A sign of the real economy but my elected leaders tell me things are great and present me with fake data showing low unemployment and job growth!

 

[Bernoulli]

AI replacing everyone

 

[IFireflyl]

We tried to tell y’all.

Who tried to tell whom what?

 

[Tsaki]

DEATH

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Well, there it is... No publisher or platform holder will be able to avoid laying people off in 2024, with maybe the exception of Nintendo.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

 

[Roxkis_ii]

A sign of the real economy but my elected leaders tell me things are great and present me with fake data showing low unemployment and job growth!

How is that relevant to a worldwide layoff in an international company?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

The hammer has dropped.




I'd imagine the VR teams will be hit hard.

Fuck sake. Media molecule is a fucking cockroach

 

[Punished Miku]

 

[NEbeast]

there will be more layoffs than games this year at this cadence.

 

[foamdino]

Interest rates == "oh crap we have to pay down some of that free money/debt we accrued in the last few years"

 

[Moses85]

How about developing and releasing games with this staff?

 

[dolabla]

There are tons of layoffs happening across several different types of industries. The economy is shit.

 

[GHG]

Fuck sake. Media molecule is a fucking cockroach

If they come away from this unscathed I'll be shocked.

 

[lh032]

Fuck sake. Media molecule is a fucking cockroach

hopefully, this means that they actually cooking some good shit
I guess their low margin is one of the main reason for these lay offs?


Nonetheless, seems like every tech/game company laying off staff, hope they can find jobs asap, hard to live without a stable job these days.

 

[ManaByte]

Isn’t Firesprite making Concord?

 

[YCoCg]

Another UK studio gone.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Isn’t Firesprite making Concord?

Firewalk

 

[balls of snow]

The hammer has drop

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

How about developing and releasing games with this staff?

 

[spons]

Jim's farewell. Thanks bro.

 

[JaksGhost]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

Not just this industry it’s happening everywhere. In a matter of 6 months my job has laid-off most of the staff in our Florida offices, reduced market size, and cut our customer service department entirely. It’s hell right now.

 

[ProtoByte]

Fuck sake. Media molecule is a fucking cockroach

They're done if their new IP doesn't come out in a timely manner and hit.

Speaking of which, London Studios getting axed means another live service has been canned.

 

[Borowski_1]

Not just this industry it’s happening everywhere. In a matter of 6 months my job has lay-off must of the staff in out Florida offices, reduced market size, and cut our customer service department. It’s hell right now.

hope those folks find another job soon

 

[GHG]

Another UK studio gone.

It's expensive to employ people in the UK relative to the talent that's still there.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

They want more short term profits. Who cares about managing the Playstation brand long term?

 

[Dane]

It's a miracle that Media Molecule wasn't shut down, but they had some hard layoffs a few months ago, didn't they?

 

[Draugoth]

Who wants to have a bingo card for the next big company?

 

[buenoblue]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

The cost of everything is going up, so companies are tightening there belts.
I work in the luxury motor vehicle business and we have seen lay offs too, no one is buying luxury items like they used to.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

They scaled massively under Covid in hopes the engagement will last forever.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Incredibly disappointing for those affected by it if not entirely surprising to hear.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

It's expensive to employ people in the UK relative to the talent that's still there.

 

[Bojji]

We tried to tell y’all.

Sucks for those losing their jobs, hope they land somewhere.

Maybe at Microsoft or Embracer will find place for them

 

[Alexios]

The hammer has dropped.




I'd imagine the VR teams will be hit hard.

That studio only made stuff for PSVR1, nothing for 2/since 2019 and their next game was to be a flat GAAS game. Schreier is dumb for framing it as if it's related to/caused by ongoing VR developments since. I guess 2019 is recent but we're on a whole new platform generation since then, come on.

 

[adamsapple]

For reference, this is 8% of SIE's total workforce.

 

[JackMcGunns]

How is that relevant to a worldwide layoff in an international company?

Politics... they poison the mind sadly.

 

[odhiex]

Fuck sake. Media molecule is a fucking cockroach

I was worried when reading this that the studio to be closed. I guess, they are still hanging on the last lifeline. Hanging there, MM <3.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

and there is this potential studio closing, right?

 

[Xyphie]

Looks like PSVR is getting kinected out the door.

 

[xrnzaaas]

It'll be interesting what happens in the next few years. Even before this year's massive round of layoffs going to gamedev wasn't a good idea as a future career path. Now it's an even worse prospect unless you're a huge gamer and desperately want to be in this business.

 

[ProtoByte]

It's a miracle that Media Molecule wasn't shut down, but they had some hard layoffs a few months ago, didn't they?

You would think they got gutted down by 40% by the way bit was talked about, but they cut around 20 employees. Decent percentage of the studio (hovering the 115-120 mark now iirc) but still hard not to think of as minor.

They want more short term profits. Who cares about managing the Playstation brand long term?

Nah. Post Insomniac leak, people should now understand that there's structural changes that need to be made, and the main one is reducing budgets or at least budget acceleration.

Everyone gets on board with that, kissing the idealized view of AA/mid budget games on the ass without reaching the logical conclusion that that means fewer people taking wages per game production.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Why?

What's happening in this industry?

This isn’t games industry specific it’s happening in every sector globally.