Lay-Offs Hit SCEA HQ Today

Roughly 80 to 100 employees of Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Foster City headquarters were laid off today, Kotaku has learned from a source who was among those asked to hand in their badge and keys before leaving the premises.

[Lord Anubis]

Nice, management is going while artist and programmers are being hired. That always goes well on my book.

Unfortunately, as customary there will be those that will claim silly things.

[FeralPhoenix]

Why would you say?:

"Nice, management is going while artist and programmers are being hired."

-It's not a good or "nice" when anyone who hasn't done anything wrong, loses their job. -Unfortunately it does happen and it doesn't mean any company enjoys doing it but depending on the situation it may be neccessary. Also according to Dave Karraker this was for "restructuring efforts" and "streamling of operations", etc. so that could mean just about any position within SCEA and it definitely didn't state they "hired" anybody while letting these guys go. The point is this isn't a good sign but Sony isn't doomed by any stretch of the imagination, so relax but definitely don't say its "Nice" when someone loses their job.

[Lord Anubis]

:|

when a corporation as big as Sony starts to let go of their management rather than the actual animator of the company it becomes, nice.

Are you going to miss the, Wipe my arse manager or perhaps the 3 o'clock tea manager?

As for the hiring of artis and programmers. SCEWWS is always hiring.

[ErcsYou]

sony probably over hired or promoted too many people for the ps3 launch. after launch these jobs become irrelevant and " job titles " are lost. Most people were probably relocated to other offices or given new job titles . it will be good for sony since the launch is over and now its all about making games and advertising, but it definitly sucks @$$ for the loyal employee's. nobody likes being demoted or told to relocate ( which means "move" ). put your self in their shoes. you finally get your dream job at sony and you and 100 other people get let go??? .....ouch...dream crusher

edit...thanx phil

[PhilHarrison]

Look everyone calm down, Sony has it's reason's and this is no reason for everyone to panic! I can assure you that the OK people at our company haven't been fired yet, there is still a core group of brains people who can come up with innovative ideas for us to better market the PS3

[level 360]

Hope these were the marketing/advertising staff - the same people who were giving us false pretence about the PS3...

[cookiemonster]

I can understand that their gaming division isn't doing so hot right now, but damn that sucks.

I can't believe some of the asshole remarks coming from some of you guys. It sucks when anyone loses their job, regardless of what title they have.

Anecdotally saying something stupid like.. "Oh its good that management is let go first" is just plain stupid and just shows how little you know about the world outside of gaming.

BTW, a big 'f*ck you' goes out to spoiled ignorant kids getting their education from the back of cereal boxes.

[PhilHarrison]

Anyone questioning this should look at sixaxis, you have no idea how great this technology is, the wii controller is feeding off of our same technology but where are the wii games? (Sony Rocks) its only a matter of time before the xbox team comes up with a copy of sixaxis aswell.

[cookiemonster]

Fyi sony pr

http://shopping.yahoo.com.a...

[_insane_cobra]

"Sony ALWAYS makes the right decision"

I'm speechless.

[WTF]

The technology that the PS3 and the Wii use isn't new, Microsoft use the same technology for the PC many years ago,Sony is the one copying the technology.

[ITR]

If thats not blind faith I don't know what is.

Corporations are here to make money.
They cut overhead costs by doing lay offs...especially when a product doesn't sell well.
Just ask GM, Ford, and Goodyear.
Families get affected and the resulting severance pay is usually never enough.

[PhilHarrison]

You are ridiculous and you make me laugh, sixaxis is much more effective, you obviously haven't tried it in Resistance, its amazing. And you will just have to wait and see how we implement sixaxis technology into home.

[cookiemonster]

you know you have issues when you say something like "how we implement"

played resistance, i still don't see your point. i'm not bashing your preferred system, i'm just saying that the statement of facts you spew out aren't necessarily true in the eyes of others.

besides you're totally off topic. i don't know why you need to take this as an opportunity to kiss ass.

[Bloodmask]

with Pheonix, it is unfortunate when anyone loses their job. Chances are that they were only doing what the higher ups told them to do. Good luck finding a job elswhere guys.

[WIIIS1]

Yep, misplaced loyalty with Sony begets a shaft up your @ss. Be forewarned fanboys.

[sajj316]

Have a job? From your comments, it doesn't seem like it. One does not get a job with Sony out of loyalty for the company or its products. One can, but most people don't. I've had to let people go in my company but business is business. Restructuring is neither good or bad. This is the right decision from a business perspective.

[kewlkat007]

it all depends who you are REPLACING them with. you usually don't know how things are going to go. sh!t could hit the fan, in the short or long term.

High turn-over rate, is never great for any Corporations.

While we can only look at the positives of "pink slips" there is much to be question about behind closed doors.

On another note: You need some type of consistancy and loyalty from employees. These days they won't hesitate to funk sh!t up after getting that "pink slip", thats why you FIRE on a Friday, less chance for confrontations. Disgruntle employee culture has changed a lot.