(NewsNation) — Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), producer of the company’s series of PlayStation video game consoles, said Tuesday it is laying off around 900 employees, or 8% of its workforce.
“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,” president and CEO Jim Ryan said in an email to employees. “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.”
The layoffs impact SIE workers worldwide and many of the company’s game development studios, including the complete shuttering of its London Studio. It also means several games currently in development will be canceled.
According to tracking website Layoffs.fyi, 171 tech companies have laid off nearly 44,000 employees in 2024 alone, with increased implementation of AI and high interest rates cited as some of the reasons for the cuts. Roughly 7,100 employees in the game industry have been laid of so far in 2024, according to a layoff tracker created by video game artist Farhan Noor.
Sony’s announcement of layoffs comes two weeks after the company said its PlayStation 5, released in 2020, would not sell as many units this year as anticipated and was nearing the end of “its life cycle.” Sony has not made any announcement if and when a PlayStation 6 might be expected.
Per Zack Zwiezen of Kotaku, nearly 6,500 people had been let go in 2024 in the video game industry alone as of Feb. 7.
