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Layoffs at Sony San Diego (40-50 people, seemingly everyone but the MLB team)

Big-E

Member
Looks like the Show is still alive , but I think its safe to safe current Sony is not fucking around when it comes to first party and any fat is going to be trimmed.
 

RibMan

Member
They didn't fit with the Sony m.o. They always shipped on time.

giphy.gif


Exceptional.

They laid off the entire studio?
 

Memory

Member
Is there a source saying baseball team is hit also? Because Ryan Palser says all but the baseball team: https://twitter.com/RyanPalser/status/776153028747493376

Makes sense i guess, MLB sells well however they had a AAA game in full production cancelled and a bunch of dud F2P experiments bleed money (Killstrain,Guns Up and the yet to be released Drawn to death).

I guess Sony are giving them no more chances and regulating them to MLB team.
 
Can anyone provide a list of current first party at Sony? Seems like it is far fewer than a few years ago. Also, I bet Polyphony isnt long for this world if GT Sport continues the diminishing returns of GT.

Naughty Dog
Sucker Punch Productions
Media Molecule
Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Cambridge
Polyphony Digital
PixelOpus
North West Studio (VR)
ForwardWorks (Mobile)
SIE Japan Studio
SIE Santa Monica Studio
SIE Bend Studio
SIE San Diego Studio
SIE London Studio
SIE Foster City Studio

Evolution was shut down recently but Forward works and northwest opened up.
 
Sad to hear for those guys, but without being privy to inside information or financials it's hard to say either way whether it was a bad move or fuckup for Sony. Not every decision is black and white in business.

Someone mentioned it a few posts back but this is really a response to the way game development has flipped. Third party games are king, and first party stuff just supplements that, whereas it was the other way around for such a long one. You have to be more cautious about how much money you can pour into games that are only going to sell to half of the consumer base, as opposed to third party offerings. Sony WWS is (or was I guess) fucking massive. Some scaling back (which MS has done too) makes sense in response to the way the industry has changed.
 

JP

Member
Always a shame to see people lose their jobs.

Having said that, looking at their list of released games on Wiki, I'm not sure that I'm at all surprised. Still a shame though but I suppose it's understandable if they're not able to pull their weight.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Is it just me or has Sony done more laying off/shutting down than any other publisher this generation?

They're pretty high up the list, but I think some of that was them not shutting down as much last generation. Take-Two just missed being a major contender due to shutting down three developers in 2012 and 2013 instead (Irrational, 2K Prague, 2K Marin), so only 2K Australia was hit this generation.

Sony seemed to have a concept that due to lower budgets and no licensing fees, their games weren't going to be impacted by the same trends as all the third parties (or at least still able to break even while releasing something different), and released a bunch of rather out-of-sync products this generation.

I would say that applied to Microsoft as well, but they primarily signed third party developers and just didn't continue their contracts afterwards. That said, we still saw shutdowns there.

We're seeing them change back to really big flagship products as far as retail goes. If PSVR doesn't pan out though, I imagine there will be more cuts incoming.
 

Wollan

Member
Kill Strain is not a good game. Generic as they come. Wouldn't be surprised if numbers were abysmal.

edit: 53 on Metacritic.
 

FelipeMGM

Member
Naughty Dog
Sucker Punch Productions
Media Molecule
Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Cambridge
Polyphony Digital
PixelOpus
North West Studio (VR)
ForwardWorks (Mobile)
SIE Japan Studio
SIE Santa Monica Studio
SIE Bend Studio
SIE San Diego Studio
SIE London Studio
SIE Foster City Studio

Evolution was shut down recently but Forward works and northwest opened up.

North West is now known as SIE Manchester Studio
 
Sorry for all those who get bit by this but if they were gonna can The Show I was about to have a heart attack.
It was charrimg on second months so it still seemes strange.

Let's wait and see who else gets shit down though. Sony does these aroind the same time.

Even if it's a small layoff, it's not wrong to assume a while team is gone with how Sony has been this generation.


I imagine ex socom devs on tf or cod.. Feels bad.
 
The analysis is pretty simple

  • How much does the MLB license cost?
  • How many copies has The Show been selling?
  • What are the development costs?
  • Can these resources be put to better use on a more profitable project?

I think given what's happened with baseball games over the last 5 years we know the answer.

MLB The Show 16 was their highest selling entry in the entire Show franchise since roughly a decade ago.

So..what answer are you trying to come up with?
 
Business. It changes all the time. Outside of MLB what has this studio done recently to keep the lights on?

Sucks to hear though.

isn't it stupid to give up on yearly franchise considering how much assets they have? maybe downsize the team and make smaller changes every year instead of giving up entirely? Sony first party management has been absolute shit this gen.



One game per year is not enough? and they can't do another game if Sony isn't going to support them with more staff.

I thought The Show sold well. I hope the developers land on their feet. What is going on at Sony?

Wtf?! MLB The Show is my number one game every year. I love it to bits.

Wow baseball games are really done for

Hope all those who are impacted get back up on their feet quickly.

Wow fuck you Sony. MLB The Show was the best sports franchise on the market. And sold better and better each year.

Edit- Ok my bad dint see that. Glad MLB will still be around.

Over 5. I win!!
 

Loudninja

Member
What did they make besides baseball?
Guns Up! December 5, 2015 PlayStation 4 Collaborated development with Valkyrie Entertainment
MLB 16: The Show March 29, 2016 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 Internally developed
Kill Strain July 19, 2016 PlayStation 4 Internally developed
Drawn to Death 2016 PlayStation 4 Collaborated development with The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency
.
 
So this is just the FTP branch of the studio? Sucks for all those losing a job and hope they land on their feet.

This isnt that surprising though. Kill Strain didnt amount to much an what I played of Drawn to Death was honestly pretty meh.
 

FelipeMGM

Member
Polygon talked to someone affected by the layoff

http://www.polygon.com/2016/9/14/12920504/sony-san-diego-studio-layoffs

An estimated 40 to 50 people were let go from the studio, according to one of those affected by the layoffs. The employee asked that their name not be used, so that their hunt for a new job wouldn't be impacted. Although new jobs opened up at the San Diego studio earlier today, Sony told Polygon that there has been "a reduction in headcount."

"We continually evaluate teams and programs at SIE Worldwide Studios to ensure we have the proper resources in place to deliver innovative products within a competitive landscape," a representative for the company said. "As projects are completed, it is natural to review and restructure teams around current and future needs."

The ex-San Diego staffer told Polygon that those working on Kill Strain and another, unannounced project were terminated, with Kill Strain ceasing production immediately.
 

dugdug

Banned
I always get shit by people when I talk bad about Shu but he keeps giving me arguments for being right, lol.

I'm with you. Shuhei fucking sucks this gen. Why are studios who *actually release games* getting shut down, while others who delay them stay alive?
 
So just Kill Strain? Thats unfortunate but understandable.

Is Jaffes game effected? I think it was going though XDEV from San Diago.

Isn't that what Xbox is still doing ?

Well the guy who was in charge of MS first party back then is now in charge of all of Xbox so ya know. Things havent change much with the 1th party

But at least he is better in interviews.
 
makes sense to make it only into an MLB studio

sucks though.... they tried some titles like that PS Move wizard game and I believe Kill Strain but their other games seemed to get more and more smaller

it was only a matter of time
 
I'm with you. Shuhei fucking sucks this gen. Why are studios who *actually release games* getting shut down, while others who delay them stay alive?

Deciding an executive "sucks" based on whatever information we have seems really dumb and childish. You guys act like he gets off on shutting down studios.
 

Dinjooh

Member
So this is just the FTP branch of the studio? Sucks for all those losing a job and hope they land on their feet.

This isnt that surprising though. Kill Strain didnt amount to much an what I played of Drawn to Death was honestly pretty meh.

Guns Up! was also quite bad. Three bad games in a row won't cut it in todays climate sadly.
 

dracula_x

Member
btw, after some "research" on LinkedIn, I noticed that many people who worked on Kill Strain were former employees from SOE/Daybreak
 
Oh, still sad but little less I guess

screenshoted for awareness

CsV_LqJW8AE8Zzy.jpg:large

Yeah this makes more sense. I think Sony just looked at what San Diego and prioritized from there. Keeping their baseball division make sense. Critical / Commercial success, and it effectively gives the PS4 an advantage when it comes to the sports genre. It would be silly to cut that off.
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)

there you go
The ex-San Diego staffer told Polygon that those working on Kill Strain and another, unannounced project were terminated, with Kill Strain ceasing production immediately. We’ve contacted Sony to confirm and for more information on the future of these games. Meanwhile, the team behind baseball franchise MLB: The Show has been excluded from the layoffs.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Hmmmm...Peter Moore maaaaaay have inadvertently hinted at EA taking the Baseball licence in that interview with Ryan McCaffrey.

Ryan pressed him on making a baseball game and he said nothing to say "at this time".

Did EA lock up the licence perhaps? I'd say they might have seen how the Show was selling and saw Xbox fans wanting a baseball game and thought there's money to be made?

So maybe Sony will also look more towards 3rd party developed exclusives and first party games like MS has been doing a bit this gen. it must be a cheaper way of getting exclusives.
 

Trago

Member
Sad to hear for those guys, but without being privy to inside information or financials it's hard to say either way whether it was a bad move or fuckup for Sony. Not every decision is black and white in business.

Someone mentioned it a few posts back but this is really a response to the way game development has flipped. Third party games are king, and first party stuff just supplements that, whereas it was the other way around for such a long one. You have to be more cautious about how much money you can pour into games that are only going to sell to half of the consumer base, as opposed to third party offerings. Sony WWS is (or was I guess) fucking massive. Some scaling back (which MS has done too) makes sense in response to the way the industry has changed.

Pretty much this. Outside of a few Nintendo games, I can't remember the last first party game from any camp that hit double digit million sales on their platform. Meanwhile, a lot of the third party big hitters can do that with no problem.
 
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