GamesIndustry.biz said:
Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...s-at-sony-london-as-first-vr-project-wraps-up
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Sony London (PSVR, The Heist) has layoffs, including senior staff
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
MadLaughter
Member
PSVR is off to a roaring start.
WhateverItTakes
Banned
Feels like a while since one of these threads... Know it's usual when projects end but its still shitty, hope people land on their feet.
Most studios don't operate like this anymore, which is part of why DLC exists (so the staff has something to do).
For example, you don't see Naughty Dog laying off their staff when Uncharted 4 ships.
Senior staff is also generally not let go, though it seems some opted into it. Temps aren't considered layoffs which is how you normally handle project scale-up and scale-down beyond the scope of DLC in modern times.
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
It's usual to lay off temp people or junior staff members if you don't have any more content to make and there's not enough room on other projects to move them to. I don't think letting senior staff go is ever usual
somecrazymember
Banned
Sorry for them.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
So Sony makes a billion dollars every year from PS+ subs alone and cant spend a few million keeping redundant staff for a few months until they start production on the next title.
What a great company to work for.
What a great company to work for.
sturgboski
Member
Hmm so just as much PSVR support as Vita in the west? Maybe I should cancel that preorder.
What? Good lord...
somecrazymember
Banned
You have a good vision of how finances work
InsaneTiger
Member
You should run for president.
The uk game development industry is a joke. As a country we're definitely underachieving for the amount of talent I'm sure is present.
There needs to be more incentive for publishers (who are currently highly risk averse as is) to invest in more studios.
Edit: I suppose we have just missed the boat really. The industry as a whole is in a state of consolidation and has been for about a decade. Where places like Canada created great environments to set up studios when publishers were still splurging out the UK did the opposite.
There needs to be more incentive for publishers (who are currently highly risk averse as is) to invest in more studios.
Edit: I suppose we have just missed the boat really. The industry as a whole is in a state of consolidation and has been for about a decade. Where places like Canada created great environments to set up studios when publishers were still splurging out the UK did the opposite.
wesleyshark
Banned
That's, uh, not how that works.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
Yeesh
I think pretty much all Sony studios have been restructure now.
Those slimy snakes
Calm Mind
Member
I love your brand of wide-eyed idealism.
evil capitalism huh
It happens in most creative industries film, vfx and games. A few people do get kept on or moved to other productions, but you can't have whole teams sitting round doing nothing. Most people take a break for 1 or 2 months or move to another company.
...seriously?
InsaneTiger
Member
If only there was a social system that worked the way he wanted.
RedAssedApe
Banned
oye...good luck to those people and hope this isn't a reflection of VR development in general.
Hahahaha, yusss. You tell em SS, you tell em real good.
I suspect it's a side effect of trying to switch from what AAA looked like in the PS3 era to how it looks now.
Sony had a lot of the uh, more traditional 8-12 hour linear experience type of game sitting around than most publishers still had going into this generation. There's also the whole issue with the racing genre in general.
Guerrilla Prime didn't have any layoffs, but they also moved on to making an open world WRPG with Ubi-mechanics they had been planning for a while.
Sony Santa Monica was relatively on target as well, but their idea didn't pan out.
funkystudent
Member
Sony first party not doing great this gen.
Big Layoffs at SSM, sucker punch, London. And of course the closing of evolution.
I am kind of afraid for the future if Bend and Media Molecule and guerrilla.
Big Layoffs at SSM, sucker punch, London. And of course the closing of evolution.
I am kind of afraid for the future if Bend and Media Molecule and guerrilla.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
I hope evolution makes a monster of a game and that it does very well, sony has been doing better but seemingly getting rid of more devs..
Well, the writing is on the wall for some time.
Eolz
Member
It's better than what you think, just not as visible. It might get a bit worse once brexit really starts though.
But until then, look at Rockstar, Foundry 42, Playground games, TT, Codemasters, Team 17, Creative Assembly, Introversion, Rare, Media Molecule, Rocksteady, and many others... Some incredible talent there, and it's not as easy as tou think to have people getting there, even if your studio and project is attractive enough.
CalamityPixel
Member
In the UK again? For fucks sake Sony.
As always my heart goes out to my fellow brit devs ;-;
As always my heart goes out to my fellow brit devs ;-;
LordRaptor
Member
The implication is pretty clear that there isn't going to be a "next title"
Sword Of Doom
Member
Yes business is this simple
Yeah that sounds about right.
Sony London has not really release much these last few years
.
Eh, he isnt wrong. Sony has constantly treated several of their first party devs like absolutely shit this gen and seem to not have any confidence on them at all. They just give up and dont invest on growing them.
El-Pistolero
Member
lmao!
Linkstrikesback
Member
Uhm. I'm not sure that's how it works.
They are to blame for not having a project in the pipeline that they could move on to quickly, rather than laying them off though.
Spiral Insanity
Banned
Sony is SO BAD with managing their internal teams. This sends a terrible signal.
RIP Wipeout.
RIP G-Police
RIP Driveclub
RIP Wipeout.
RIP G-Police
RIP Driveclub
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
lol omg could you guys quote me more?
Sony posted a $2.8 billion profit for their last fiscal year. Mostly thanks to their gaming division. I can understand cost cutting measures for their divisions losing money. I can understand layoffs for studios that dont sell enough games. What I dont understand is how you can run a business where you use people and discard them as soon as its finished BEFORE the game even ships and has a chance to make money.
Put yourself in their shoes. Those are real people who worked their asses off on the game and imagine how they feel.
This is not the first time Sony's shipped a game. They MUST know that there will be redundancies after a game is finished. They should have planned for it. Laying off folks to save a few million only to hire them back again a few months before launch is a disgusting practice. stop defending these shitty practices.
Sony posted a $2.8 billion profit for their last fiscal year. Mostly thanks to their gaming division. I can understand cost cutting measures for their divisions losing money. I can understand layoffs for studios that dont sell enough games. What I dont understand is how you can run a business where you use people and discard them as soon as its finished BEFORE the game even ships and has a chance to make money.
Put yourself in their shoes. Those are real people who worked their asses off on the game and imagine how they feel.
This is not the first time Sony's shipped a game. They MUST know that there will be redundancies after a game is finished. They should have planned for it. Laying off folks to save a few million only to hire them back again a few months before launch is a disgusting practice. stop defending these shitty practices.
But this isn't Sony, it's the video game or media industry,
People move on to different projects once their current one is finished, I don't see anything new here
Question: If your employment in division C is directly affected by the financial performance of division A, what are the risks associated with running your business this way?
Sword Of Doom
Member
You're assuming a lot. i work for a company in a completely different industry that is laying thousands of people off even though they are making a profit. Business is fucked up but it's never as simple as you're making it seem
I had no idea Rocksteady was British. Thanks for the list. It's odd that it's almost mostly driving studios - what with that genre being in huge decline. I guess there's Crytek as well.
I still think we're underachieving for what we could be doing. Either way, I think it's clear why Sony would want to restructure London since it's essentially a tech demo studio now (unless these moves are an effort to get them onto something more traditional for VR).
Th3BranMan92
Member
I'm still miffed about the Studio Liverpool's closure. PSVR Wipeout would've been absolutely killer.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
A billion dollars is great for a company that just makes games and doesn't have to worry about their music, movies, and TV division.
Yeah hope this works out for the studio and those who are layoff.
btw, London Studio is SIE's largest internal development studio in Europe.
But still, pretty sad news actually.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Right. Sony isnt the only company doing it. but whenever kotaku runs these expose articles, we all air our frustration and call out publishers like EA and Activision who used to do this all the time.
Why is it that when i dared to criticize Sony everyone jumped down my throat.
It's a disgusting policy and every publisher needs to be criticized for it.
They are doing fine.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/28/sony...profit-as-its-turnaround-plan-takes-hold.html