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Business and Economic News
Ayana Archie, NPR

Sony is laying off about 900 PlayStation employees

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Attendees visit the PlayStation booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
Attendees visit the PlayStation booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22.
Jeff Chiu | AP 2023

Sony Interactive Entertainment is laying off about 900 PlayStation employees worldwide, a reduction of about 8 percent, the company announced this week.

The decision will affect all employees across several PlayStation studios in the company's regions, which include North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

U.S. employees were notified Tuesday of the layoffs, the company said. Sony Interactive Entertainment's London studio will close for good, and in Japan, the company will "implement a next career support program," it said.

Laid off employees will receive severance packages.

"These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions," Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said. "However, the industry has changed immensely, and we need to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead."

While Ryan did not elaborate on what those changes are, video game journalist Rebekah Valentine told NPR that many video game companies grew during the COVID-19 pandemic while people were in their homes more often, and are shrinking now that many normal activities have resumed.

There have been at least 6,000 layoffs announced in the video game industry so far this year, and nearly 10,000 jobs were axed in 2023.

"While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand, or our industry," Ryan said. "Our goal is to remain agile and adaptable and to continue to focus on delivering the best gaming experiences possible now and in the future."

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.