It may not be as bad as Zynga laying off over 500 employees, but Sony Online Entertainment has recently been reported laying off 70 employees from their San Diego game factory. Back in August, Sony already laid off an unspecified number of employees in their Austin studio, so who knows how many employees have been cut in total.
Sony Online Entertainment, the company behind the EverQuest Franchise, DC Universe Online, and PlanetSide 2, among other titles, says they made these layoffs as part of a move to reduce costs and streamline their workforce.
At a release they claimed it was not an easy decision saying,
“We had to make the difficult decision to eliminate positions to help reduce costs, streamline our employee base and strategically align resources towards our current portfolio of games and upcoming slate of MMOs, including EverQuest Next Landmark and EverQuest Next.”
Artists, Designers, Directors, Oh My!
Michele Cagle, senior director of global communications, says that the layoff will not have any impact on the development of upcoming games. Yea, it might not have any impact on the games, but it does impact the lives of the employees they laid off…
Sony let go of artists, game designers, programmers, project managers, and a creative director, among many others in administrative positions, which include employees in human resources, payroll and community relations.
My hope is that these now ex-employees of Sony are able to find and transition into new jobs soon.
