Another PlayStation studio has reportedly been hit by layoffs, with support studio Visual Arts apparently in the Sony firing line this time around.
According to Kotaku, Visual Arts was hit by layoffs earlier this week as part of “a further restructuring of Sony’s US game development operations”. Cuts reportedly included staff who worked on some of Sony’s recently-canceled projects, including Days Gone developer Bend Studio’s canned live service game.
However, Kotaku’s source, whom the publication doesn’t name, says the layoffs were more widespread than that, seemingly suggesting that cuts also included staff who weren’t involved in the aforementioned projects.
As Kotaku points out, ex-Visual Arts associate project manager Abby LeMaster confirmed the layoffs herself on LinkedIn, saying that waking up to news of the layoffs was “tough” and that the talent let go by the studio would be “extraordinarily difficult to recoup”.
While you might not know Visual Arts’ name, it’s a fairly important studio for Sony, providing development support for major studios like Naughty Dog.
These layoffs come after what has been a relatively difficult year for Sony. While the gaming giant enjoyed critical and commercial success with the likes of throwback platformer Astro Bot, Sony also suffered an embarrassing failure in the form of hero shooter Concord, which was shut down just a couple of weeks after launching.
In January, Sony announced it would shake up its leadership structure, appointing Hideaki Nishino the sole president and CEO of Sony’s interactive division. The change means that while Hermen Hulst will remain the head of PlayStation Studios, he’ll now report to Nishino, rather than the two sharing CEO duties.
The layoffs at Visual Arts also follow a recent pattern of layoffs across the industry, with studios like Oxenfree developer Night School, Killer Instinct studio Iron Galaxy, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard developer BioWare affected, among many others.
