Sony to Lay Off 900 From PlayStation Team After Missed Sales Target

Sony is making cuts to its PlayStation division after a rough earnings report. 

Days after the company missed a PS5 sales target, which led to its stock plummeting by $10 billion, Sony said it’s laying off 900 members of its PlayStation division. The cuts represent about 8% of its workforce globally. The layoffs will hit a number of PlayStation studios, including Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, and Firesprite, among others. Sony will also close its PlayStation Studio in London, which specializes in virtual reality games. Last week, the company announced it was working on a PC adaptation for its PlayStation VR2, a virtual reality headset. 

The layoffs are the latest in a tough stretch for the gaming industry. In January, Microsoft laid off around 1,900 employees from its Xbox and Activision Blizzard divisions, which, like Sony’s cuts, is roughly 8% of its gaming workforce. Unity laid off 25% of its workforce in January, as did Discord, which cut 17% of its employees.