Sony is cutting jobs in Liverpool as part of a massive restructuring at its PlayStation division.
The group is cutting around 900 jobs at its PlayStation division, including closing its London studio in its entirety.
The cuts represent some 8% of PlayStation’s total global workforce. CEO Jim Ryan said staff reductions would happen at its Liverpool-based Firesprite Studio, and that there would be “reductions in various functions across Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in the Ƶ”.
Firesprite was founded in Liverpool and worked with Sony for many years before it was bought by the global giant in 2021. In 2023 Firesprite moved in to new offices in . Sony also has a base in Old Hall Street, in Liverpool’s business district.
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Mr Ryan said the decisions were “extremely hard” but that the “industry has changed immensely” and Sony needed to “future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead”.
In a blog post on the cuts, Mr Ryan said: “The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company. We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted.
“These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions. However, the industry has changed immensely, and we need to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead.
“We need to deliver on expectations from developers and gamers and continue to propel future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we are set up to continue bringing the best gaming experiences to the community.”
Earlier this month, Sony revised down its sales forecast for the PlayStation 5 console by four million.
Last month, Microsoft announced it was cutting 1,900 Xbox and Activision Blizzard staff. That followed cuts at other companies including Meta and Amazon.
