PlayStation is laying off around 900 people across the world [Discussion]

Satoru

Limitless
Founder
20 Jun 2022
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The legacy of Jim Ryan is the gift that keeps on giving:
  • The Last of Us Online cancelled and people laid-off at Naughty Dog (1st GaaS project gone)
  • Closing of London Studio, with dozens losing their job (2nd GaaS project gone)
  • Cancellation of Spider-Man multiplayer projects and now layoffs(occurred at some point in the last year, 3rd GaaS project gone)
  • Guerrilla hit with layoffs, another studio that had been working on GaaS (probably 4th project gone)
The man bet hard on live service games, these failed, and now people lose their jobs. He gets a fucking parachute payment and to enjoy early retirement as a millionaire. The lack of games and the PC ports have impacted their bottom line and console sales, they have nothing to show for that's not live service...

His legacy will be felt for years, he completely fucked playstation.
 

Mild Conviction

Active member
13 Jan 2023
128
198
Hilarious coincidence this happens with a "Sony should acquire so and so" thread right below this one.

How about no one acquire anyone else until these big corporations can sort their fucking shit out and no one has to work for them constantly looking down the barrel of an inevitable mass layoff?
 

Petekilla

Veteran
16 Jun 2023
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Terribly sad, I hate to see news like this.

From a business perspective this was unavoidable... the costs are bloated and some projects just were not that promising.

London Studio closing is kinda shocking, it's been part of PlayStation for the longest time. I guess they are looking to get out of the expensive city location, which is smart in accounting terms.

Firesprite was not a smart purchase... that money shoulda been saved for something in Japan or Korea.

There is a sea of change at PlayStation and in the wider economy... I expect even more cuts, I expect Firesprite to eventually be gone too and less studios in costly locations.
Firesprite I’m sure was cheap. Most of the talent was from the Sony Liverpool devs. Jim Ryan wanted to resurrect that studio and have a studio power in the UK.
 
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Danja1187

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10 Mar 2023
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I'm blaming this squarely on that prick totoki or whatever his name is ! He's going to destroy playstation as we know it , hate on Jim Ryan all you want but playstation thrived under his leadership
Jim Ryan is exactly why we are here today with Totoki taking over to further wreck the brand. Jim is the worst thing to ever happen to Playstation along with Hermen Hulst's ascension.
 

BLAZE

Member
20 Feb 2024
52
59
Honestly, Insomniac and Firesprite would be the most affected anyway, they are very big, one doesn't deliver games constantly and the other spends absurd amounts, like the 300 million for Spider Man 2
 

Satoru

Limitless
Founder
20 Jun 2022
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I wouldn't be surprised if most of the cancelled projects were live-service, Jim's pet project that backfired spectacularly. He must have cost Sony over 200M dollars just in those, at the very least. Probably double that.
 

Kokoloko

Veteran
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21 Jun 2022
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A strawman argument is a rhetorical technique where someone misrepresents or exaggerates their opponent's argument in order to make it easier to attack or refute. It's like constructing a weak or distorted version of the opposing viewpoint, which is easier to knock down, rather than engaging with the actual argument. It's often used as a tactic in debates or discussions to discredit the opposing viewpoint.
??? No1 is here for your philosophy.

Im not using a technique lol. Im saying this issue has nothing to do with buying more studios. Arrowhead just made a bunch of money right?
You release a successful game = profit. Buy the correct studios and they make you money.
 

Petekilla

Veteran
16 Jun 2023
1,161
1,211
The legacy of Jim Ryan is the gift that keeps on giving:
  • The Last of Us Online cancelled and people laid-off at Naughty Dog (1st GaaS project gone)
  • Closing of London Studio, with dozens losing their job (2nd GaaS project gone)
  • Cancellation of Spider-Man multiplayer projects and now layoffs(occurred at some point in the last year, 3rd GaaS project gone)
  • Guerrilla hit with layoffs, another studio that had been working on GaaS (probably 4th project gone)
The man bet hard on live service games, these failed, and now people lose their jobs. He gets a fucking parachute payment and to enjoy early retirement as a millionaire. The lack of games and the PC ports have impacted their bottom line and console sales, they have nothing to show for that's not live service...

His legacy will be felt for years, he completely fucked playstation.
The SP Multiplayer game was in concept phase. Development didn’t really start unlike Factions.
 

Luffy123

Veteran
16 Jul 2023
630
1,125
I wouldn't be surprised if most of the cancelled projects were live-service, Jim's pet project that backfired spectacularly. He must have cost Sony over 200M dollars just in those, at the very least. Probably double that.

for sure they were

Factions cancelled
London Studio GAS Fantasy cancelled
Spiderman GAS cancelled

for sure there are a lot more cancelled as well
 

Nhomnhom

Veteran
25 Mar 2023
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Honestly, Insomniac and Firesprite would be the most affected anyway, they are very big, one doesn't deliver games constantly and the other spends absurd amounts, like the 300 million for Spider Man 2
Lmao, no other studio they own makes more money for them than Insomniac, this is demoralizing and signals the direction they are going.

Sony is set on following Xbox footsteps into oblivion, taking everything PlayStation has built for granted.
 
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Thirty7ven

Well-known member
30 Dec 2023
255
530
Hilarious coincidence this happens with a "Sony should acquire so and so" thread right below this one.

How about no one acquire anyone else until these big corporations can sort their fucking shit out and no one has to work for them constantly looking down the barrel of an inevitable mass layoff?

That’s not how any of this works. They aren’t firing people because the business is posting losses, they are firing people because shareholders want more money.
 

Petekilla

Veteran
16 Jun 2023
1,161
1,211
Wow. So it looks like that person on Era who said Firespirte was struggling wasn’t lying. I wonder if they’re going to be a one team studio from now on. I hope their SP game didn’t get canned.