After Sony has set several of the games in development for the PS5, further layoffs are now followed. These are supposed to affect two studios, one of them was previously involved in the remake of The Last of Us.
Which studios are affected? As an anonymous source of Kotaku reports, the Playstation studio Visual Arts has occurred. This has recently worked on the remakes for The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2.
At the PS Studios Malaysia there were probably also cuts. A post on LinkedIn, which was discontinued by the former senior project manager Johann Affendy Mahfoor. He was also released.
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Defaults probably because of the set service games
Why these layoffs? Sony probably separates from employees who have worked on recently hired projects. This included two planned service games: one from Bend Studios, the developers of Days Gone, and one in the Universe of God of War.
According to the Source of Kotaku, however, the layoffs should not be limited to developers who have worked on the burst service games, but should be spread. The source does not reveal exactly how many are affected. So far, Sony has not yet answered the request from Kotaku to make a comment.
Mahfoor reports: “There was a wave of job cuts, and unfortunately I am no longer part of the PS brand, along with a few other colleagues from production.” Here, too, it is not known how many people have lost their workplace.
The saddest and most shocking part for me was to see how powerful and central people who have actively worked on projects were released.
Johann Affendy Mahfoor, formerly Senior Project Manager at the PS Studios Malaysia More employees report terminations
Are there any other votes on the layoffs? Yes, two former Visual Arts, Chris Clyde and Lewis Labram employees, also state that they have been terminated on LinkedIn.
Labram writes: “With a heavy heart, I have to say that I was affected by the PSVA arrests today. The worst thing is that this was the best job I had so far, the Dream team and the great projects were incredibly exciting, and I enjoyed every day. ”
Riot Games R&D Senior Lead Producer Amy Lemaster, who previously worked at Visual Arts, shared her thoughts on the dismissals on Monday.
“It was hard to wake up this morning and get messages that many friends and former colleagues from PSVA were released,” writes Lemaster on LinkedIn. She also explains: “This industry can be unpredictable, but the skills, the experience and passion of the people I have worked with PSVA are undeniable.”
At the end of February, a foundation from the Netherlands prepared a class action lawsuit against the Sony. The PlayStation group would use its market power to artificially keep prices in their own store, according to the accusation. You can read more about this in this article: PS5: Sony threatens an action for a collective because of “artificially high” prices in PS Store