PlayStation Studio Job Cuts Announced by Sony

Sony's San Diego-based Visual Arts studio and PS Studios Malaysia have experienced layoffs, affecting an undisclosed number of employees, according to Kotaku and LinkedIn testimonies from former staff. Employees were reportedly informed their last day would be March 7th. Affected developers contributed to various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, a support studio specializing in art and technical aspects, has collaborated extensively with PlayStation's first-party studios, notably on the The Last of Us Part I and Part II remasters.

IGN has independently verified several LinkedIn posts from laid-off Visual Arts employees, along with at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. One former Visual Arts employee attributed the layoffs to "multiple project cancellations." This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts in two years, following an earlier, undisclosed reduction in workforce in 2023. The current size of Visual Arts' staff and its ongoing projects remain unclear. IGN has contacted PlayStation for comment.

These layoffs reflect a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the games industry, a trend observed since 2023. While over 10,000 game developer layoffs were estimated in 2023, rising to over 14,000 in 2024, precise figures for 2025 are less readily available due to decreased transparency from affected studios.