News out of Sony’s San Diego studio is that teams within the studio have been laid off. As seen in a tweet below from Noah Watkins, his entire team has been laid off but there is no clarification from where within the company.https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976
https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976
Sony sent out the following statement about Sony San Diego:
We can confirm there has been a reduction in headcount at San Diego Studio. The teams working on MLB The Show, Drawn to Death and Guns Up! have not been affected. We continually evaluate teams and programs at SIE Worldwide Studios to ensure we have the proper resources in place to deliver innovative products within a competitive landscape. As projects are completed, it is natural to review and restructure teams around current and future needs. We wish our departing team members success as they pursue new opportunities and we have nothing but heart-felt thanks for their contributions to PlayStation.
Sony London has also been affected, where the team was working on VR games for PlayStation, including London Heist, a getaway game. The studio has been known for Playroom, Singstar, Wonderbook among other things.
Sony has confirmed the layoffs to GamesIndustry.biz, which will continue to support their VR title.
“London Studio have done a great job in leading the way in VR development, and as their first project nears completion it is time to plan for the next VR project. The team will take all their learnings and experience as they move forward, however in order to achieve its ambitious goals, the Studio will need to restructure around the needs of the new projects.
“Unfortunately, there will be a number of compulsory redundancies within the London Studio. We accept that this will mean that we risk losing high calibre staff whose projects have reached completion and where possible, we will try to reallocate people to new projects currently being nurtured.
