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[STEaMkb]

One would think they should be looking to hire people, or at least RETAIN senior staff who has experiences for that tech, not cut positions.

Sony not long opened a new studio dedicated to VR development, based in Manchester England.

As the previous project winds down in their London studio, the press release says they will help those effected find jobs elsewhere.

I'm still not seeing anything here that suggests they are winding down VR development. At all.

So ask yourself...why would they not want their senior staff working on their new project?

Where does the article say they have axed all senior members of staff? It doesn't.

 

[Nocturno999]

or maybe Shawn Layden

and I am only half joking

I don't doubt it. They've been going downhill since Lord Jack Tretton left.

 

[styl3s]

I feel for the people who lost their jobs and hope they land on their feet but to the few people being hyperbolic about PSVR or the future.

It's Sony London.. The people who have been bringing you Sing Star for the last 10 years and mega hits like Wonderbook and Sony's Playroom and the super mega successful Home for PS3.. There are talented people there for sure and i am not trying to put them down but nothing they were doing or planning on doing had anything to do with the success or failure of the PSVR.

 

[nampad]

or maybe Shawn Layden

and I am only half joking

Shawn Layden is relatively new in this position and Shu is still president. It has been downhill for the Worldwide Studios for a while now since Shu took over.

 

[spazchicken]

Sounds like the extra staff could have been hired specifically for the VR projects and are no longer needed due to processes being learned and streamlined during development.

"Senior" doesn't mean you've been there forever. It simply means you are very experienced in what you do and you are more expensive.

 

[TheGuardian]

I feel for the people who lost their jobs and hope they land on their feet but to the few people being hyperbolic about PSVR or the future.

It's Sony London.. The people who have been bringing you Sing Star for the last 10 years and mega hits like Wonderbook and Sony's Playroom and the super mega successful Home for PS3.. There are talented people there for sure and i am not trying to put them down but nothing they were doing or planning on doing had anything to do with the success or failure of the PSVR.

Playroom was actually made by Japan Studio, and Home had its own team in the same building as London Studio.

 

[1st Course]

Isn't usual for companies to layoff staff upon projects completion?

 

[Penguin]

Is it also San Diego or just a random dude?

Well... Our entire team was just laid off here at the #playstation studio here in San Diego. Anyone looking for a UI artist/designer?

https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976

 

[jmdajr]

MS was smart to stay out of this game.

 

[Vena]

Is it also San Diego or just a random dude?
https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976

Well he says entire team, so probably not just a random dude. Unless you mean a random dude making stuff up?

 

[soultron]

Is it also San Diego or just a random dude?



https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976

Could be the team he's part of, ex. a UI team at a studio.

 

[Kaako]

MS was smart to stay out of this game.

Yup yup, they've done a tremendous job maintaining and nurturing their acquired/internal studios so far.

 

[Macleoid]

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

You're bang on mate. It's about large companies shifting the risk off themselves and onto the work force and society at large. Socialised risk and private profit.

 

[dracula_x]

Well he says entire team, so probably not just a random dude. Unless you mean a random dude making stuff up?

found his profile on LinkedIn

 

[Penguin]

Well he says entire team, so probably not just a random dude. Unless you mean a random dude making stuff up?

Meant possibly the latter since I saw no one else with it on Twitter, but I see the other thread now

 

[Aostia]

PSVR is off to a roaring start.

:/

 

[VincentMatts]

It could be that, even with their success with playstation4 that Sony still isnt doing all that well as a whole. It wasnt that long ago that lots people were saying a few of their devisions were doing really bad. Sony isnt just playstation.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Polyphony who have yet to produce a single PS4 product still fatly funded.

Shu and Sony really made a fucking mess of their studios this generation when the real dead-weight gets to keep on failing upwards.

 

[Bedlam]

Man, as much as I enjoy the products, working in this industry still seems to suck big time.

 

[VincentMatts]

Polyphony who have yet to produce a single PS4 product still fatly funded.

Shu and Sony really made a fucking mess of their studios this generation when the real dead-weight gets to keep on failing upwards.

Yeah i dont get that. That cant be financially viable for them. Look at what happened to Lionhead, they actually released games and still closed. How is this profitable to them? i dont get it.

Man, as much as I enjoy the products, working in this industry still seems to suck big time.

Having worked it in, i can tell you that it kinda does.

 

[Bedlam]

Polyphony who have yet to produce a single PS4 product still fatly funded.

Shu and Sony really made a fucking mess of their studios this generation when the real dead-weight gets to keep on failing upwards.

Yup. That studio just burns money and puts out a substandard product once a decade. It's baffling that they are allowed to continue like that while studios full of talent and potential, such as Evolution, are shut down by Sony.

They started strong this generation but I feels like they have made some really bad decisions within the last two years.

 

[tuxfool]

Polyphony who have yet to produce a single PS4 product still fatly funded.

Shu and Sony really made a fucking mess of their studios this generation when the real dead-weight gets to keep on failing upwards.

Polyphony makes them a boatload of money when they do finally release a game. Even on a dying platform GT6 sold millions.

It remains to be seen if this will still be the case, but past performance is metric used when determining funding.

 

[Kaako]

Man, as much as I enjoy the products, working in this industry still seems to suck big time.

Most definitely. Stuuuupid hours(especially crunch), massive layoffs after projects...just nope.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Yeah i dont get that. That cant be financially viable for them. Look at what happened to Lionhead, they actually released games and still closed. How is this profitable to them? i dont get it.

Polyphony just enjoy a "too big to fail" position with the Gran Turismo franchise, despite them taking a serious tumble in recent years.

Watching infinitely more productive racing studios such as Studio Liverpool and Evolution close while Gran Turismo takes huge dips in relevance has been a perfect example of Sony's mis-management of their studios as they go through trying times.

What must be even more frustrating at the game arm is knowing they own the console space right now but the fuck ups of Sony Pictures and all the other failing arms are still dragging them underwater and having to slash and burn. I just wish they had made better choices in who they were slashing and burning. For instance:

-Studio Liverpool would have had something for VR at launch (Wipeout VR can you imagine)
-Evolution had Driveclub VR ready for VR launch.
-Sony London had VR products ready for launch.

-Polyphony has nothing for VR launch and can't even get their first PS4 project out, a prologue piece of shit, done this year.

 

[Moosichu]

Yup. That studio just burns money and puts out a substandard product once a decade. It's baffling that they are allowed to continue like that while studios full of talent and potential, such as Evolution, are shut down by Sony.

They started strong this generation but I feels like they have made some really bad decisions within the last two years.

Polyphony funded the entire development of GT5 3 times over with the sales of GT5 prologue or something like that. They make money.

 

[DryvBy]

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.

You'd make a lot of money paying a bunch of people to do nothing all day.

 

[Visualante2]

It's weird I attended a talk from a guy at Studio Cambridge (now Guerilla Cambridge) and they were like. We don't believe in that boom and bust cycle. We have had steady growth for the past few years. We hired someone last year, we might hire one or two this year.

Strange so many other studios weren't able to do the same. I got the impression they liked having multi disciplined staff.

 

[cleveridea]

Isnt London a very expensive location to develop games?

As I understand itt just getting a tiny apartment is crazy expensive.

 

[kyser73]

You'd make a lot of money paying a bunch of people to do nothing all day.

Neogaf armchair business management 101, lesson one:

Keep paying people even when their business unit stops making money.

 

[Pie and Beans]

It's weird I attended a talk from a guy at Studio Cambridge (now Guerilla Cambridge) and they were like. We don't believe in that boom and bust cycle. We have had steady growth for the past few years. We hired someone last year, we might hire one or two this year.

Strange so many other studios weren't able to do the same. I got the impression they liked having multi disciplined staff.

Sony Cambridge are tech fixing wizards. They helped create most of the impressive tech behind Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, and many others while also saving lots of other troubled projects. It's always been a bit of an insult they got re-named Guerilla, and if they ever get the axe then the entire sky is falling for Sony's internal devs and an exec would have to finally take a bullet.

 

[Visualante2]

Sony Cambridge are tech fixing wizards. They helped create most of the impressive tech behind Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, and many others while also saving lots of other troubled projects. It's always been a bit of an insult they got re-named Guerilla, and if they ever get the axe then the entire sky is falling for Sony's internal devs and an exec would have to finally take a bullet.

Shame they couldn't help ship the Last Guardian. I wonder if there is a risk of SCEE relocating out of the UK because of Brexit.

 

[kyser73]

Polyphony just enjoy a "too big to fail" position with the Gran Turismo franchise, despite them taking a serious tumble in recent years.

Watching infinitely more productive racing studios such as Studio Liverpool and Evolution close while Gran Turismo takes huge dips in relevance has been a perfect example of Sony's mis-management of their studios as they go through trying times.

What must be even more frustrating at the game arm is knowing they own the console space right now but the fuck ups of Sony Pictures and all the other failing arms are still dragging them underwater and having to slash and burn. I just wish they had made better choices in who they were slashing and burning. For instance:

-Studio Liverpool would have had something for VR at launch (Wipeout VR can you imagine)
-Evolution had Driveclub VR ready for VR launch.
-Sony London had VR products ready for launch.

-Polyphony has nothing for VR launch and can't even get their first PS4 project out, a prologue piece of shit, done this year.

You've listed two studios who were either losing or marginal at best (DC might have sold loads, but I can't imagine it made much money, especially after the initial online issues), and one that has essentially been an ideas lab for the last decade.

Polyphony, OTOH, is considered a failure when one of its games sells 'only' 5mn copies. The GT brand is leveraged across the world, and is a saleable asset in its own right.

If GT:R bombs and Sony keep PD around you might have a point, but at the moment you're comparing 2 sales failure & costly studios and an ideas lab with a developer that has sold decamillions of units, DLC & so on.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Sony not long opened a new studio dedicated to VR development, based in Manchester England.

As the previous project winds down in their London studio, the press release says they will help those effected find jobs elsewhere.

I'm still not seeing anything here that suggests they are winding down VR development. At all.



Where does the article say they have axed all senior members of staff? It doesn't.

I'm not sure how you're reading what I wrote and assuming i think their whole senior staff is laid off.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

Following the Vita strategy with their VR teams I see.

This was my first thought.

 

[Fezan]

This gives me tremendous confidence in PSVR. Same thing happened to vita

 

[Loudninja]

This was my first thought.

This gives me tremendous confidence in PSVR. Same thing happened to vita

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

.

 

[SlimySnake]

Neogaf armchair business management 101, lesson one:

Keep paying people even when their business unit stops making money.

You'd make a lot of money paying a bunch of people to do nothing all day.

If my job is to run studios then it's my job to find work for these people. maybe i should fire myself for not doing my job.

This is not a brand new concept. Sony has been shipping games since 1994. They know they are down periods and they need to plan AHEAD. laying off people actually means you have to pay them severance packages so technically you are paying them for sitting home and doing nothing.

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

SIE.

I've just canceled my PSVR pre-order. Sorry, not falling for the Vita trap again.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

Is it also San Diego or just a random dude?



https://twitter.com/noahwatkins/status/776127579522686976

There are other rumors of everyone not on MLB being let go from San Diego today.

You'd make a lot of money paying a bunch of people to do nothing all day.

Ubisoft does this.

 

[Curufinwe]

Polyphony who have yet to produce a single PS4 product still fatly funded.

Shu and Sony really made a fucking mess of their studios this generation when the real dead-weight gets to keep on failing upwards.

Their games always sell at least 5 million.

Try and be at least slightly rational.

 

[Kasper]

I wonder if the redundancies are a part of changing development focus for their next (presumably) VR title, going from having a bunch of smaller teams within the studio working on different bite sized experiences to the studio now having to come together for one big, cohesive vision instead.

 

[derExperte]

.

Looks like the dude writing corporate bullshit slang has a secure job. Or already got replaced by an automated generator. Seriously, all that blabla about restructuring is worthless, it means nothing. Or at least nothing good for the people affected by it.

I referring to the fact that they are moving to the next VR project.

'They' meaning maybe the janitor who survives the 'restructuring'. Such wording doesn't really help to instill trust.

 

[BigEmil]

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 on earth are you talking about

 

[Loudninja]

At least the dude writing corporate bullshit slang has a secure job. Or already got replaced by an automated generator. Seriously, all that blabla about restructuring is worthless, it means nothing. Or at least nothing good for the people affected by it.

I referring to the fact that they are moving to the next VR project.

 

[Cuburt]

You would think VR would be a lot of little projects they work on anyways, moving from one to the next.

 

[TheGuardian]

SIE.

I've just canceled my PSVR pre-order. Sorry, not falling for the Vita trap again.

I wouldn't read too much into these layoffs about the future of PSVR. After the Singstar PS4 and Wonderbook trainwrecks, these were pretty much inevitable.

 

[III-V]

I am not in this industry, but over the years it does seem like this type of restructuring is common for teams like this between projects. Sucks, I wouldn't be happy with this kind of instability.

 

[Papacheeks]

Polyphony just enjoy a "too big to fail" position with the Gran Turismo franchise, despite them taking a serious tumble in recent years.

Watching infinitely more productive racing studios such as Studio Liverpool and Evolution close while Gran Turismo takes huge dips in relevance has been a perfect example of Sony's mis-management of their studios as they go through trying times.

What must be even more frustrating at the game arm is knowing they own the console space right now but the fuck ups of Sony Pictures and all the other failing arms are still dragging them underwater and having to slash and burn. I just wish they had made better choices in who they were slashing and burning. For instance:

-Studio Liverpool would have had something for VR at launch (Wipeout VR can you imagine)
-Evolution had Driveclub VR ready for VR launch.
-Sony London had VR products ready for launch.

-Polyphony has nothing for VR launch and can't even get their first PS4 project out, a prologue piece of shit, done this year.

How many success projects had liverpool and Evolution had? Pretty sure Evolution was given tons of chances with them making motorstorm a brand new IP then made a sequel which sold less than 500,000 copies, then didn't get the hint and made motorstorm apocalypse in a seriously over crowded genre where games like forza, Gran Turismo, fuel, dirt, blur, Grid all exist. Then after last motorstorm flopped hard like less than 200,000 copies hard they made an even more expensive game and were given even more people for it.

They couldn't even get the online to work after multiple delays of the game, sony brought in their own engineers to get it working, then were given a whole year to support the game after launch.

It sucks, they have talent but their manager must not talk to advisers or something.

 

[Timbuktu]

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 didn't know Rocksteady was pretty much in the same building complex as me near Kentish Town until they brought a batmobile round making a lot of noise one lunchtime.

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

I wouldn't read too much into these layoffs about the future of PSVR. After the Singstar PS4 and Wonderbook trainwrecks, these were pretty much inevitable.

Just to be safe. I'll wait to see if they really support it post launch. I'll save that money to get the PS4 Pro.