author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
Layoffs at PlayStation Studios Said to Include Veteran With 26 Years of Service
Layoffs were said to have occurred at Sony. Jobs were reportedly lost by Visual Arts staff and a PlayStation veteran.
Bad news coming from the PlayStation camp. Recently, a number of employees were said to have ended their cooperation with Sony Interactive Entertainment. The information is all the more disturbing because a large number of these people worked at the studio that was to collaborate with Naughty Dog on an unannounced AAA game.
Layoffs at PlayStation Studios Visual Arts
Over the past few days on LinkedIn some Sony employees have announced the end of their adventure at the company. One such person is Daniel Bellemare, who was a level designer at a studio located in San Diego, namely PlayStation Studios Visual Arts:
"Unfortunately, due to a wave of layoffs, last week was my last at PlayStation. While it's not the news I was anticipating, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work with incredibly talented people on amazing projects, and I'm leaving with good memories."
In a similar situation was Sean Teo, who left the same studio and is now looking for a new job. He adds that his contract with PlayStation Studios Visual Arts simple ended and the "wave of layoffs" mentioned by Bellemare does not apply to him.
The adventure at Sony has also ended for Matt Barney. As a technical recruiter, he supported studios such as San Diego Studio, Firewalk Studios and Valkyrie Entertainment, LLC.
"For the past few months, I knew this wave of layoffs was coming. (...) I wish all the people from my former organization who were affected by the layoffs today the best of luck!"
From these statements, it appears that even more people have lost their jobs. The main concern is that the layoffs have affected PlayStation Studios Visual Arts. The studio was supposed to collaborate with Naughty Dog - creators of Uncharted and The Last of Us - on an unannounced AAA game.
It is worth mentioning at this point that not so long ago, Naughty Dog's also laid off many people.
Connie Booth is leaving PlayStation
This is not the end of bad news from Sony. David Jaffe (a former employee of the company responsible for, among other games, the first part of the series of God of War) informed that he has very sad and frustrating news about PlayStation:
"If this is true... no matter what you do, never claim that your work is your family and the company is your life. If it's true - for now I don't know the reasons - I can say: the Sony we knew is mostly dead."
Jaffe received this information from anonymous but trusted people at PlayStation. Not wanting to reveal his irritation on Twitter/X at first, he referred fans to the video available only to supporters of his YouTube channel. According to these people, Jaffe was outraged primarily by the layoffs taking place at Sony.
In the end, David Jaffe confirmed, that one of the reasons is the departure, as he heard, of producer Connie Booth, who was part of PlayStation for more than 26 years (per LinkedIn). She worked on some of Sony's biggest games, including Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, all parts of Uncharted, Days Gone, the first and second The Last of Us, God of War: Ragnarok or Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
According to Jaffe's sources, Booth was most likely fired - however, the designer does not know the exact details of the situation. She is allegedly to be replaced at PlayStation by Angie Smets, who previously worked at Guerrilla Games for 20 years.
David Jaffe is really concerned that such an experienced developer as Connie Booth is no longer working at Sony, and called it "a significant loss for PlayStation." He even hinted that Microsoft could take the woman under its wing, as she would undoubtedly help the company.