Sony to close London studio as part of 900 PlayStation job cuts
27 February 2024, 14:34
The gaming giant said the cuts would amount to around 8% of its PlayStation workforce.
Sony is cutting around 900 jobs at its PlayStation division, including closing its London studio in its entirety.
The gaming giant’s chief executive, Jim Ryan, said it had made the “extremely hard decision” because the “industry has changed immensely” and the company needed to “future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead”.
The cuts represent around 8% of PlayStation’s total global workforce and follow many other technology and gaming firms who have made cuts to jobs in recent months in response to ongoing global economic uncertainty.
In an email sent to PlayStation staff, Mr Ryan confirmed the proposed cuts would see the firm’s London Studio close “in its entirety”, with staff reductions also occurring at its Liverpool-based Firesprite Studio, and that there will be “reductions in various functions across Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in the UK”.
“The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company,” Mr Ryan said in a blog post on the cuts.
“We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted.
“These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions.
“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.”
Earlier this month, Sony revised down its sales forecast for the PlayStation 5 console by four million.
The gaming and wider tech sector have seen widespread job cuts over the last year, with thousands of staff reductions at the likes of Meta, Amazon, TikTok, Snapchat and others.
Last month, Microsoft also announced it was cutting 1,900 Xbox and Activision Blizzard employees.
