Sony to lay off 900 at PlayStation as tough times for the video games industry persist
By Michael Nam, CNN
New York (CNN) — Electronics giant Sony announced on Tuesday that it will be cutting 900 jobs, or 8%, in PlayStation’s global workforce.
The layoffs will impact all regions for Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to the PlayStation press release, with its in-house London studio, responsible for the competitive singing video game “Singstar,” closing entirely.
“These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions,” wrote Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “However, the industry has changed immensely, and we need to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead.”
The workforce reduction follows the company slashing sales forecasts for the year and Naomi Matsuouka, Sony senior vice president, saying the PlayStation 5 console was approaching the latter end of its life cycle, according to Bloomberg.
Ryan had already announced in September plans to retire in March as Sony Group Corporation president. Hiroki Totoki, the chief operating officer and chief financial officer, will take the reins as interim CEO.
The new CEO will be facing an entire an entire tech sector in upheaval, as industry giants laid off 5,500 workers within the first two weeks of 2024 alone.
Specifically, the video game industry has been seeing jobs hemorrhage from 2023 into this year as well, with Epic Games cutting 830 jobs last September and Tencent’s Riot Games laying off 11% of its workforce in January.
Echoing the leadership of those other game companies, Ryan wrote in his email to employees: “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.”
Sony Group Corporation (SONY) stock fell less than 1% following the news on Tuesday.
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