Sony has recently conducted layoffs affecting an unspecified number of employees at its Visual Arts studio in San Diego and PS Studios Malaysia, as reported by Kotaku and confirmed by former employees on LinkedIn.
According to Kotaku, the affected staff were notified earlier this week that their last day would be March 7. These layoffs impacted developers who had worked on various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, primarily known for its art and technical support, has collaborated with other PlayStation first-party studios on projects such as The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters.
LinkedIn posts from several developers, as identified by IGN, confirm layoffs at Visual Arts and at least one at PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that these layoffs resulted from "multiple project cancellations."
This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within the last two years, following a similar event in 2023. The current employee count at Visual Arts and their ongoing projects remain undisclosed. IGN has sought comment from PlayStation on these developments.
These layoffs add to the ongoing trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the gaming industry, which began to be widely reported in 2023. That year saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a number that increased to over 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend persists, though exact figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the number of affected employees.
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