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PlayStation Struck by More Layoffs in the Aftermath of Multiple Cancelled PS5 Games

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PlayStation Hit With More Layoffs Following Recent Game Cancellations

Sony's PlayStation Visual Arts team faces fresh cuts as the company continues reorganizing

kotaku.com

The PlayStation-owned studio Visual Arts was hit with fresh layoffs this week amid a further restructuring of Sony’s U.S. game development operations. While some of the cuts included staff who had contributed to recently canceled projects like an upcoming live-service game at Bend Studio, a source told Kotaku the layoffs were more widespread than that.

Earlier this week, an unknown number of staff at the Visual Arts group based out of San Diego were informed that their last day at Sony would be March 7. The team provides internal art and technical support to first-party PlayStation studios and worked closely with Naughty Dog on the recent Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters among other projects.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It was tough waking up to messages that many friends and former coworkers from PSVA were laid off this morning,” former PSVA project manager Abby LeMaster, now at Riot Games, posted on LinkedIn on Monday. “The layoffs today hit hard. PSVA let go of developers with decades of subject matter expertise; talent that will be extraordinarily difficult to recoup. This industry can be unpredictable, but the skill, experience, and passion of the people I worked with at PSVA are undeniable.”

The layoffs come after an expensive failure in last year’s Concord, new rounds of live-service project cancellations including a reported God of War spin-off at BluePoint Games, and a reorganization within the top echelons of Sony leadership. In January, Hiroki Totoki became the company’s new CEO and Hideaki Nishino became the sole CEO of PlayStation, with Hermen Hulst, who had previously been co-CEO, reporting to him as the ongoing head of PlayStation Studios.

The latest cuts at the PlayStation Studios Visual Arts group follow an emerging trend of game companies pulling back development resources from expensive U.S.-based offices. Last year during a business briefing, Hulst said there had been “pressure on the cost side” as Sony laid off hundreds amid spiraling first-party blockbuster game development budgets.

“For every title, we have really rigorous review processes where we focus on the sustainability of our investments in these titles,” he said at the time. “We include areas such as looking at what can be outsourced, for example, to avoid too high peak resource on development teams because costs can be sticky. We’re looking at co-development options in areas where the costs per resource is maybe somewhat lower than the average or on the American west coast.”

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The latest cuts at the PlayStation Studios Visual Arts group follow an emerging trend of game companies pulling back development resources from expensive U.S.-based offices. Last year during a business briefing, Hulst said there had been “pressure on the cost side” as Sony laid off hundreds amid spiraling first-party blockbuster game development budgets.

For most companies, labour is either the most costly part of running a business or the second most. Manufacturing companies mght be second. But white collar heavy companies will likely be the people. That SG&A expense will be huge.

And it's also the most controllable. The company has complete control on salaries paid and number of people hired.

Other shit can be out of the company's hands. Ya, you can negotiate, but the other party still has the upper hand towards, leases, loan rates, ingredient costs, packaging costs, trucker and port fees etc.... And something like currency exchange totally out of a company's control, best kept under control hedging best as possible and hoping to come out on the good end.

A lot of companies as a whole just got too many people, too costly people, or both. And tech is one which probably are both. BUT, if the company is a giant money maker they can technically float it if they want to. A couple hundred million or a billion here or there is chicken scratch. But if the company wants to go into cost cutting mode, people are always easiest to cut first. Just the way it works.

 

[SlimySnake]

lol didn’t we just have a thread showing how Sony has already made $12 billion in net profit this Gen. 3x more than the $4 Billion they had made during the first 4 years of the ps4 gen.

And yet they are laying off people like they are trying to save their company from going bankrupt.

Studios like vsg are actually very important considering they are sport studios who can come in and help other studios ship games. But hey when you are making billions you have to buy yahcts and whores for your overpaid execs.

 

[semiconscious]

The team provides internal art and technical support to first-party PlayStation studios and worked closely with Naughty Dog on the recent Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters among other projects...

well, there's 2 vital projects right there...

 

[Sharius]

After Tlou 2, i don't think i ever want to buy game from ND anymore, atleast until neil still in power, so they are free to fired him too

 

[panda-zebra]

lol didn’t we just have a thread showing how Sony has already made $12 billion in net profit this Gen. 3x more than the $4 Billion they had made during the first 4 years of the ps4 gen.

And yet they are laying off people like they are trying to save their company from going bankrupt.

Studios like vsg are actually very important considering they are sport studios who can come in and help other studios ship games. But hey when you are making billions you have to buy yahcts and whores for your overpaid execs.

They don't seem all that important at all. They might have lot of talent there, but it won't come cheap given the location.

Seems like a large part of their workload was touching up stuff for remasters. Farming that level of workload out to others around the world is obviously going to cost far less and an easy decision to make when the results are going to be essentially identical.

The two articles framing this as being anything to do with recent game cancellations is typical clickbait.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

lol didn’t we just have a thread showing how Sony has already made $12 billion in net profit this Gen. 3x more than the $4 Billion they had made during the first 4 years of the ps4 gen.

And yet they are laying off people like they are trying to save their company from going bankrupt.

Studios like vsg are actually very important considering they are sport studios who can come in and help other studios ship games. But hey when you are making billions you have to buy yahcts and whores for your overpaid execs.

That's business. Didn't Yoshida state that Sony hired too many people during covid in that interview recently?

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

The Concord effect and by proxy the Woke/DEI effect too.

"For every title, we have really rigorous review processes where we focus on the sustainability of our investments in these titles,”
a mystery then why Concord saw the light of day... a mystery indeed.


" We’re looking at co-development options in areas where the costs per resource is maybe somewhat lower than the average or on the American west coast.”
those vegan sandwiches, scream rooms and knitting clubs are too damn expensive.

 

[Gonzito]

This is what happens when you prioritize DEI in your games.

Hopefully they learned the lesson

 

[adamsapple]

Earlier this week, an unknown number of staff at the Visual Arts group based out of San Diego were informed that their last day at Sony would be March 7. The team provides internal art and technical support to first-party PlayStation studios and worked closely with Naughty Dog on the recent Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters among other projects.

Won't be surprised if this came as a mandate from Japan to lower US based expenses. CA is an expensive place.

 

[SlimySnake]

They don't seem all that important at all. They might have lot of talent there, but it won't come cheap given the location.

Seems like a large part of their workload was touching up stuff for remasters. Farming that level of workload out to others around the world is obviously going to cost far less and an easy decision to make when the results are going to be essentially identical.

The two articles framing this as being anything to do with recent game cancellations is typical clickbait.

Nah they have been around for a while and have helped ship every single major Sony first party game in the last two decades. They were also the lead developer on tlou1 for a few years before naughty dog forced their way on the project after neil fucked off to do the TV show leaving the studio meddling with other projects from bend as VASG.

They likely helped ship Spiderman 2, Horizon 2 and gow ragnorak as well.

 

[LectureMaster]

Won't be surprised if this came as a mandate from Japan to lower US based expenses. CA is an expensive place.

 

[Ozzie666]

Sony obviously need the extra money to pay for DA Velguard on PSN.

Sorry to those impacted, but honestly it's pretty shitty. Companies doing the best it's done, making hand over fist. Layoffs.

Greed everywhere.

 

[nial]

The Concord effect and by proxy the Woke/DEI effect too.

"For every title, we have really rigorous review processes where we focus on the sustainability of our investments in these titles,”
a mystery then why Concord saw the light of day... a mystery indeed.


" We’re looking at co-development options in areas where the costs per resource is maybe somewhat lower than the average or on the American west coast.”
those vegan sandwiches, scream rooms and knitting clubs are too damn expensive.

how do I make this about concord

 

[nial]

To be serious, it actually makes a lot of sense. PlayStation Studios Malaysia, for example, has been gearing up to approach the exact same operations as the US-based Visual Arts, with it being MUCH less expensive overall.
Not saying that it's not shitty regardless, but that's sadly your corporate world.

 

[yurinka]

I'd like to see if really there has been meaningful recent layoff there or if it's just the case of a couple underperforming persons getting fired and replaced by new ones, something most big studios/companies do every year, or the case of a few contractors that got fired/not renewed once their project got completed or cancelled.

They have many job positions open for San Diego, something rare in case they'd have had a big layoff (even if some may be for their MLB team).

They were also the lead developer on tlou1 for a few years before naughty dog forced their way on the project after neil fucked off to do the TV show leaving the studio meddling with other projects from bend as VASG.

ND didn't force their way into the TLOUP1 remake. Creative Arts was the lead team and ND was supporting them until Hermen got promoted to head of PS Studios and knew about the project. He didn't like it and thought they were overspending on it, so asked Creative Arts to go back to their usual support role, and asked ND to take the role to finish it with the proper quality and a decent cost.

Regarding Neil, in addition to the multiple remasters, PC ports and remake, ND was working on TLOU Online, Intergalactic and (since early 2023) another unannounced SP game. ND has been working in more games at the same time than ever. Plus also the Uncharted movie and TLOU tv show.

They don't seem all that important at all.

SIE/PlayStation Studios Creative Arts is the main internal Sony support team that helps almost every single game published by PS Studios in production, design, art, animation, coding, music, audio and more (the areas depend on the game). Visual Arts is only part of their team.

As an example, they are the ones who do the motion capture and the most part of the cinematics of the ND, SSM, Insomniac etc games.

You can search 'Creative Arts' in the game credits of games like Helldivers 2, Spider-Man 2, Concord, Stellar Blade or any other relatively recent first party game.

As I remember in addition to have their San Diego and Malaysia teams, they also have people in Europe or San Mateo.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

VASG is basically a support studio and we don’t know the scale of layoffs. While being sad, that is a nature of the support studio itself to scale the workforce accordingly. I really thought the news was about prime teams, but in the end Sony kept more or leas the same headcount in Bend and Bluepoint.

 

[nial]

VASG is basically a support studio and we don’t know the scale of layoffs. While being sad, that is a nature of the support studio itself to scale the workforce accordingly. I really thought the news was about prime teams, but in the end Sony kept more or leas the same headcount in Bend and Bluepoint.

You just know ArtHands would have put the likes of Team Asobi or Naughty Dog in the thread title if it were about them.

 

[FewRope]

Sony is in a winning streak lmao

 

[Heisenberg007]

lol didn’t we just have a thread showing how Sony has already made $12 billion in net profit this Gen. 3x more than the $4 Billion they had made during the first 4 years of the ps4 gen.

And yet they are laying off people like they are trying to save their company from going bankrupt.

Because corporate greed has no limits.

 

[Ar¢tos]

I'm sure plenty of studios in China can do the same art work for a fraction of the price.

I'm more surprised that they still have asset creation studios in the US.

 

[xrnzaaas]

More companies will be looking to hire people outside US. You can get the same or similar results while reducing the costs at the same time, especially when it's about non-creative jobs.

 

[FoxMcChief]

More examples of failing upwards. Are we sure Sony isn’t an American company?

 

[Astray]

This feels like jobs that are getting replaced by AI.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

More examples of failing upwards. Are we sure Sony isn’t an American company?

Funny you spin it like that. They are not and thats why they are shifting some jobs to Asia and other more stable markets with less taxes and tariffs.

 

[Ronin_7]

Salaries in the United States are not sustainable—one engineer in China costs 1/5 of one in the U.S., and they’re probably better, lol.

 

[Topher]

When you put accountants in charge.....

 

[Impotaku]

I'm sure plenty of studios in China can do the same art work for a fraction of the price.

I'm more surprised that they still have asset creation studios in the US.

Ah yes China the country that half asses everything to cut costs & corners. Get ready for tofu dreg games lol

 

[Ar¢tos]

Ah yes China the country that half asses everything to cut costs & corners. Get ready for tofu dreg games lol

Asset creation =/ game creation....

And you must have been asleep through the past year, since you clearly missed the massive jump in quality Chinese games had.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Ah yes China the country that half asses everything to cut costs & corners. Get ready for tofu dreg games lol

You are literally clueless.

 

[Badlucktroll]

i think chasing this gaas crap fucked playstation for a while but hopefully it doesnt take too long for them to get back on track

 

[adamsapple]

When you put accountants in charge.....

Numbers go brrrrr

 

[recursive]

This is what happens when you prioritize DEI in your games.

Hopefully they learned the lesson

Not just in the games but in hiring practices too. Sony would be smart to layoff the entire DEI group.

 

[SHA]

It's the Ps6 and xbox 2nd series, I don't buy gaas bs.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

how do I make this about concord

Nial in Denial. as always, as expected. truly sad

 

[TGO]

I mean you don't actually know why they was layed off other than the cancellations.
They could be completely random or chosen for a reason.

 

[Kotaro]

Sony's games and Western games in general are heavy in dialogues and cutscenes, that add tons of development overhead.

In the East, Square Enix games follow into this category, heavy in cutscenes and dialogues. That's why their development budget is bloated. Look at other Asian studios, they are doing just fine with smaller budget that focus solely on gameplay

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Sony's games and Western games in general are heavy in dialogues and cutscenes, that add tons of development overhead.

In the East, Square Enix games follow into this category, heavy in cutscenes and dialogues. That's why their development budget is bloated. Look at other Asian studios, they are doing just fine with smaller budget that focus solely on gameplay

isn't the Persona and yakuza series heavy on cutscenes and dialog?

 

[adamsapple]

isn't the Persona and yakuza series heavy on cutscenes and dialog?

Yes. Persona is 50% non-interactive elements and 50% dungeon crawling.

 

[Fake]

Western devs at the edge of abyss. But hey, Playstation is selling PS5 like never before.

Is a matter of time for games like Horizon GAAS and that stupid FairGame$ to be cancel.

 

[ProtoByte]

lol didn’t we just have a thread showing how Sony has already made $12 billion in net profit this Gen. 3x more than the $4 Billion they had made during the first 4 years of the ps4 gen.

And yet they are laying off people like they are trying to save their company from going bankrupt.

Studios like vsg are actually very important considering they are sport studios who can come in and help other studios ship games. But hey when you are making billions you have to buy yahcts and whores for your overpaid execs.

Devil's in the details. Their profit margins are cut in more by half compared to similar periods for the PS4. Even the recent 13% is lower than they bottom of the top half of margins last gen. And that was before they shitcanned 9 projects.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

No sympathy for layoffs happening in California.

Those studios were probably choc full of radical leftist activists and probably supported the DEI-ification of games.

Hope Sony goes HAM and purges all their main studios of the rot of the purple-haired activist crowd too. Get back to making games for the consumer, instead of virtue-signalling mental-masturbation projects targeted towards woke mofos who don't even buy or play games.

 

[nial]

Nial in Denial. as always, as expected. truly sad

Even I didn't expect this stupid response out of you, come on now.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Firing people when your company is hitting record profit numbers should be illegal. That's all i'm saying to this

 

[Kvally]

When you put accountants in charge.....

Hey now. I take that personal!

 

[Topher]

Hey now. I take that personal!

Sorry bro

 

[Esppiral]

MS is sure destroying this industry.

 

[Tajaz2426]

Less employees for them and even less storefronts that I have to see. Even trade, hopefully a ton more will lose their jobs and storefronts will start to dwindle. Maybe even less ridiculous “look at me, I’m a unicorn, shit.

All in all, damn good day.

 

[Topher]

Less employees for them and even less storefronts that I have to see. Even trade, hopefully a ton more will lose their jobs and storefronts will start to dwindle. Maybe even less ridiculous “look at me, I’m a unicorn, shit.

All in all, damn good day.