PlayStation is laying off 900 workers. As part of this, it will shut down its London Studio entirely, likely cancelling its announced new IP. There will also be layoffs at other Sony-owned studios in the UK, including Firesprite studio, which it acquired in 2021.

Shortly after this announcement, Sony revealed that its US-based studios will be affected too. Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog will also be affected, having just shipped Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered respectively.

"The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company," reads a blog post from Sony CEO Jim Ryan. "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."

Explaining why the cuts are being made, Ryan says that the industry "has changed immensely". In an email to workers, Ryan also says that the layoffs are being made in order to "continue to grow the business and develop the company".

For those who will be leaving [Sony Interactive Entertainment]: You are leaving this company with our deepest respect and appreciation for all your efforts during your tenure.

"This will not be easy, and I am aware of the impact it will have on wellbeing," Ryan continues. "Affected employees will receive support, including severance benefits. While these are challenging times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength of our company, our brand, or our industry."

Incidentally, one of the affected studios, Firesprite, was made up of developers from another studio that Sony shut down in 2012. While Firesprite will at least stay open, unlike London Studio, it's being named in the list of workplaces included in today's layoffs. It remains to be seen how many staff will be affected.

The 900 layoffs won't be felt with immediate effect, as Sony will have to go through a consultation process in regions like the UK. However, this is the figure that Sony is striving for, which accounts for roughly eight percent of its worldwide workforce.

This is just the latest example of mass layoffs in the gaming industry, and there seems to be no sign of them slowing down anytime soon. Back in January, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 1,900 workers, including many spread out across its newly acquired Activision Blizzard-owned studios.

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