It seems like a lot of companies in the gaming industry have decided to lay off staff this year…

Frontier Developments laid off several people during the week, there’s also Zen Studios, and we also wrote about how Embracer Group had a lot of teams affected after the $2 billion deal with Saudi Savvy Games fell through (they closed Volition Games, known for Saints Row and Agents of Mayhem, fired several people from Crystal Dynamics and the Knights of the Old Republic remake studio Beamdog… and plans to sell Gearbox, which was acquired in 2021).

Sony has also joined the layoffs, as several Visual Arts employees have reported that they no longer work there. One of them is Daniel Bellemere, who was a senior designer. He posted on LinkedIn that Sony had let him go: “Unfortunately, after a wave of layoffs, last week was my last at PlayStation. While this is certainly not the news I was hoping for, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work on incredible projects with extremely talented colleagues, and I’m leaving with fond memories of my time there.” Bellemere was working on an unannounced project, and it’s not known if he was at Visual Arts or Sony San Diego, but since the latter is primarily developing MLB: The Show, it’s likely he wasn’t working there.

Matt Barney is also among those let go: “Goodbye PlayStation / Sony Interactive Entertainment, it’s true! I have known for the past few months that these layoffs were coming. I love PlayStation and I always will… I mean, I stayed when I had the chance to leave, so obviously!”. Sean Teo is one of them: “Hey guys, my contract at PlayStation Visual Arts has unfortunately come to an end. I am currently looking for a new role and am flexible to work on video games, feature films and commercials.”

Visual Arts Service Group is a small support team that last worked with Naughty Dog on The Last of Us Part I… and they never had a game of their own before. So it’s going to be hard for them to pull this off…

Source: VGC