Summary

• Several developers from Sony’s PlayStation Visual Arts Group support team have been laid off.
• Job reductions also affect PlayStation Studio Malaysia, a support unit that was formed in 2020.
• These layoffs may relate to the cancellation of recent live-service games from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.

Sony has made an unnamed but significant number of cuts within the PlayStation division. The layoffs are mainly affecting the PlayStation Visual Arts and Malaysia studios. These groups, which support the main game development teams, have reportedly faced significant job reductions. In February 2024, Sony announced extensive layoffs impacting roughly 900 employees, amounting to around 8% of its entire workforce.

The company later shut down mobile game developer Neon Koi and canceled two titles from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games in January 2025. Although Sony assured that these studios are safe from closure, the game cancellations seem to have triggered broader implications for PlayStation’s support teams.

Further, PlayStation Studio Malaysia’s project manager Johann Mahfoor confirmed his layoff via a LinkedIn post, describing it as a “mass workforce reduction.” Recent challenges within the games industry have led to over 33,500 layoffs across major studios due to financial re-adjustments in the post-pandemic era.