• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Evolution Studios, Guerrilla Cambridge & SCE London Studio hit by layoffs

Kysen

Member
Meanwhile the other arms of Sony which are performing like shit continue to drag the company down. They could have easily excised the TV wing.
 

Ape

Banned
don't be silly now.

The first thing I want is for these people to find a place to work if they need it.

The second thing I want is for Sony to keep up what they've been doing on the game side. It just seems difficult with a smaller workforce.
 

Sendou

Member
People should start realizing that Sony doesn't start and end with PlayStation. Just because PS4 is doing well doesn't mean Sony as whole is well. Just because PS4 is doing well doesn't mean that PlayStation sector couldn't be more cost efficient or in other words it could compensate for other areas more than it is doing now.

But yeah sad news. Those studios have made some quality games.
 

Atrophis

Member
Business-wise, it makes sense.
SCEE London's output the last decade was really really bad.
So some kind of a studio-reboot (see SSM) makes sense.

SCEE Cambridge finished Killzone VITA a few months ago and are restructuring.
The Guerrilla Games bosses just visited them a few days ago to talk about the future.

And Evolution Studios..... don't know what to say. They are struggling for qute some time now.

Makes sense for Sony to reboot some studios/put some fresh blood in it.
As sad as it sounds for some people.

How is it possible Team Ico still exist then?
 

Cornbread78

Member
Sony as gaming sector is selling good. why lay off people from the winning team ?


Big corps. always do ot to maintain their profitability, it's a long term move and ot sucks big time.. O work in a completely different industry and fear layoffs all the time as we've gone through 3 cycled of a planned 4 over the span of a year..
 
Seriously,the new console is selling like never before.What is the problem Sony?

Console selling like hot cakes, therefore third parties are clambering to make games on your system, therefore no need for expensive first party studios with risky projects.

Also the quickest way to make the balance sheet look better is to shed staff.
 

Rodelero

Member
I'm still fairly confident that Sony's first party is in decent enough order. It's hard to see more layoff announcement than game related announcements. Hopefully this will be the last before E3.

Good luck to all those affected, naturally.
 

KORNdoggy

Member
Sony as gaming sector is selling good. why lay off people from the winning team ?

i'm guessing it's because in the case of cambridge, they pretty consistently make games that sell horribly. and that goes all the way back to primal. a lot of that blame can be placed on sony for developing games for what is clearly a dead system (vita) as well as poor marketing, and thus it isn't really their fault. but at the same time, if a deve studio isn't making you money, why keep them around?
 

inopedes

Banned
Sony as gaming sector is selling good. why lay off people from the winning team ?

They have 2 current gen consoles. One's doing well and the other? Mmmm let's keep that quiet shall we?

Nintendo have 1 doing well and one poorly and they are in severe dire straits while everything's apparently rosy in Sony's garden.
 

Castef

Banned
Making room for the tons of indie games?

That would completely make sense, actually.

Hope the best to the guys who lost their jobs.
 

Tratorn

Member
Since PS4 is selling like hotcakes even without many games from Sony they probably don't need those people anymore...

Hope they find a good job again.
 

Calabi

Member
Yup, it's a sad fact, but it has to happen. PlayStation is one of the few parts of Sony that is doing well and they need to make sure it is efficient as possible and that they are not wasting any money.

They can never be sure they arent wasting money. I think the movie studios have to create 16 films for one of them to get a profit. Something like that. Sony cant expert every one of their developers to be profitable a hundred percent of the time. If they do then they are stupid and will see their overall incomes decline.
 

Oppo

Member
Guys. They didn't close three studios. There are some layoffs.

It sucks but jeez get a grip.

inopedes said:
Nintendo have 1 doing well and one poorly and they are in severe dire straits while everything's apparently rosy in Sony's garden.
One, leave the fanboy whining out please and two, that's not even remotely comparable.
 

Loudninja

Member
Meanwhile the other arms of Sony which are performing like shit continue to drag the company down. They could have easily excised the TV wing.
The PC division, as widely expected, will be sold to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, which will set up a separate company to take over the operations. Sony will initially hold a 5 percent stake in that company.
Sony also said it will split its TV division off into a separate company by July 2014.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...urce=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637
 
Console selling like hot cakes, therefore third parties are clambering to make games on your system, therefore no need for expensive first party studios with risky projects.

Also the quickest way to make the balance sheet look better is to shed staff.
If you think so lol
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
How is it possible Team Ico still exist then?
I actually wonder how small of a team they have. I was under the impression that keeping the team small was one of the things that was resulting in such a lengthy development cycle.
 

Anion

Member
Since PS4 is selling like hotcakes even without many games from Sony they probably don't need those people anymore...

Hope they find a good job again.
Funny thing is that some people were buying the PS4 because those people were making games for the PS4

That being said, I'm sure these games will churn out
 

V_Ben

Banned
Team Ico isn't actually a studio. It's just one of Japan Studio's many projects. Team Ico still exists because those guys are more than likely working on other games beside Last Guardian.

Exactly. SCE Japan's restructuring helped games like Rain and Puppeteer finally see the light of day.
 
It sounds like reduction in staff members after review. It will have taken place over a period of time to see how to restructure the studios for efficiency. It is not in reaction to the last few months of PS4 sales realising they don't have to make 1st party content anymore because people are buying it without!!
 

nampad

Member
Nooooo, not Studio Cambridge :(
First Studio Liverpool gets killed, now it starts at Cambridge. Just stop it Shu!
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
"numerous people from each studio have been made redundant."
It's sad, but while PlayStation is doing amazingly well Sony is not, Sony still has to pay these people and the entire company is restructuring. Why pay two people for the same job when you can pay one?

I doubt that it's this kind of redundancy, probably involving cancelation or down-sizing of game projects that Sony deems redundant in the line-up.
 

Atrophis

Member
Ok guys, thanks. Was wondering if there had been restructuring on the Japanese side and I guess so.

Good luck to everyone finding new jobs.
 

Vashetti

Banned
Neil Druckmann is on the rampage.

Neil Druckmann to be only Sony developer left by the end of the year.

TheGuys.jpg


The face of villains.

The both seem like lovely guys.
 

Wynnebeck

Banned
I swear you people are like Chicken Little running around screaming "The sky is falling!" every time something like this happens. While still sad to hear, this is a natural part of a business. Playstation is not "in trouble". Calm the hell down.
 

Amentallica

Unconfirmed Member
So long as these studios remain relatively intact despite the unfortunate job losses so that Sony can get out of the financial hole they are in and provide better games and services without 'doom and gloom' hanging over their heads.
 

Raoh

Member
Based on the numbers being let go I'd argue that it's simply a massive cost cutting effort. They're basically trimming the fat, so to speak.

It happens regularly in large corporations even during periods of success.

I hope these guys land on their feet, though.

This. I worked for a large company that just recently laid me off after 15 years. I survived numerous lay offs but it finally caught up to me.

There is also a lot of young talent out there willing to work for cheaper.

Lastly, last gen we talked about Sony's issues. Hardware and software don't talk, bad management, underperforming divisions and. ... Maybe too many games/studios/employees.

I hope everyone does well and finds a new home soon, good luck.
 

ron_bato

Member
Neil Druckmann to be only Sony developer left by the end of the year.

TheGuys.jpg


The face of villains.

The both seem like lovely guys.

Neil has taken his villainous act to the walking dead as well. He is not satisfied with Sony Studios, he's going after TV shows now.

BjdGFSDIQAAvkSM.jpg


But on a serious note, I hope these guys land on their feet.
 

Famassu

Member
How is it possible Team Ico still exist then?
AFAIK Team ICO is mostly just a small creative team inside Sony's Japanese studio. A lot of the people doing most of the grunt work in creating assets etc. are the like that can and HAVE been moved around to develop different projects while the small core Team ICO group has tried to get their shit together. It's not like they've had 300 people working on Last Guardian since 2005-2006 or anything.
 
Top Bottom