Sony closing London Playstation studio under plans to cut 900 jobs

Sony has revealed plans for 900 job losses across its Playstation division, with the company’s operations in the UK among those affected.

The Japan-based firm notified staff in an email that the Playstation London studio was to be closed under the proposals.

There would be job losses too at its Firesprite Studio in Liverpool, bought by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in 2021.

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Other UK workers across various functions would be impacted, the division’s outgoing chief executive said in an email to staff.

Jim Ryan, who is due to step aside in March, wrote that the decision was taken as the “industry has changed immensely” and the company needed to “future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead”.

“We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes.

“Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted,” he added.

Sony’s other studios include US-based Insomniac Games that worked on games such as Spider-Man 2 and Naughty Dog.

Sky News has approached the company for more information on the number of UK workers hit.

Firesprite’s website suggests it has more than 200 developers.

The decision follows many other technology and gaming firms in making cuts over recent months in response to ongoing global economic uncertainty that has affected sales growth and shifts in game development.

The company had warned earlier this month that it expected a gradual decline in unit sales of the PlayStation 5 from the next financial year.

No major franchise title releases were planned for the year ahead.

A month ago, Microsoft announced it would cut nearly 2,000 workers after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Riot Games, the developer of the popular “League of Legends” multiplayer battle game, said in January that it was laying off 11% of its staff.