One Game Canned Due to Sony European Teams' Layoffs; Studios Are "Encouraged to Refocus" - Insiders

Today Sony Computer Entertainment Europe confirmed a round of layoffs at Evolution Studios, Guerrilla Cambridge and SCE London Studio, and industry insider Ahsan Rasheed, that has a few trusted sources in the company, immediately scrambled to get more information on what's with the house of PlayStation on British soil.

[Kayant]

Always a shame people have too be let go because of this hopefully they bounce back quickly.

If thuway is to believed then that doesn't sound as bad as SSM's project which was well in development (Well a very shaky one) and was supposedly going to be official announced at E3.

On a positive note good to see DemonNite is safe wish he or she would leak more and stop being such a tease :p.

[Dark11]

I hope it's not GG new IP .. sony already canned SSM new IP.

[Whitefeather]

The canned game was early in development. The GG game is three years in now
So no.

[Bundi]

Actually, that SSM game was on track to be shown at E3, Stig Asmussen had been working on it for FOUR YEARS before t was canned so I don't see why you believe GG's IP would be safe other than the fact that this is GG Cambridge and not GG.

Links or it did not happen: http://m.technobuffalo.com/...

[iceman06]

@Bundi...because the word had it that it was too close to what Destiny was doing.

[Abriael]

The Guerrilla studio affected is Guerrilla Cambridge (Killzone Mercs) not Guerrilla Games

[Xsilver]

"Certain projects are not coming together. IE Concepts broken, ideas strong on paper but not in application, or inability to hit milestones."

Clearly the game wasn't coming together but we'll never know but all i know is Sony plays no games with their first party Studios that's their bread and butter so i don't think we have anything to worry about yet.

[Bonkerz]

MS has so much announcements they have to cut out time from E3, they are at PAX Sony isnt.. Glad i picked the X1 and didnt sell into the PS4 hype.

[kingdom18]

Neither will Nintendo. But I bet Sony will be at TGS and Microsoft won't be. So your point is? Your foolish to think that both parities don't cut out announcements for E3.

[Silly gameAr]

You'e selling into hype alright. May not be the PS4 hype, but the MS PR campaign is working on you big time. You guys must not be big into history. It's like we have to go through this every new generation with xbox fanboys. ugh.

[chickenface]

Glad i bought into the PS4 hype and not the xbox one PR extravaganza. Funny thing is that Sony are holding their big cards for E3, as they haven't made any major announcements in terms of games as yet. ha ha ha prepare for a massive surprise from Sony at E3.

[DigitalRaptor]

I'd say Sony's silence should be a little bit more worrying for someone in your position. MS have been desperately pushing their "smoke and mirrors" PR statements and anti-consumer, monopolistic bullsh*t on everyone from before the console were announced to even now. Penello and Larry's sad attempts to convince discerning games of the lies they were telling to desperately sell their brand when caught in a corner.

Sony has been modestly silent, but performing extremely well. There are lots we know about upcoming PS4 games. Sony has a crap-ton more announced for the platform - we all know this. We know there are more developers making games for PS4, from many different angles. 1st, 2nd, 3rd party. Free-to-play, Japan, MMO, indie, AAA, Morpheus.

Speaking of that particular piece of hardware they've announced, they are just ready to ride with it. They are riding that strong wave that they have since Feb last year. They are bringing the games, but Xboys like cheap, short-term thrills. Those that have bought into the PS4 hype have done so based on the long-term implications of what it has to offer.
------

"Calm before the storm" is how I like to visualise things. E3 is going to be one to remember, not only for MS, but also for Sony, who are hiding things pretty damn well. And hiding things is not something they have ever been strong at.

The PS4 hype is more than real. XB1's hype is an artificial reconstruction from the ashes of an absolutely terrible and worthy controversy. Titanfall's underwhelming performance is testament to this.

[malokevi]

Life is ending.

[AutoCad]

Sony losing games left to right..
I will be worried if i was a sony investor or a fan.

[FlunkinMonkey]

Which investors have been seemingly worried about investing within the consoles so far?

XBone investors or PS4 investors? Have a think champ, get that brain cell into gear.

[AutoCad]

Did i say PS4 investors? i said as a whole company SONY.Its no secret SONY is struggling right now to turn profit.

Read before your fanboysism comes out buddy.

[chickenface]

O didn't realize one game and a concept being scrapped meant "losing games left to right"

pffft

[AutoCad]

not the first game being cancelled by sony due to layoffs.

[vongruetz]

I think it was the other way around. The game didn't get canned because there were layoffs, but rather there were layoffs because the game was canned.

Seems like Sony is doing to all their studios what they did to Studio Japan. Getting things organized and making it so that it's not so much the wild west with different groups all off doing their own thing.

In the end, I think this is going to be healthier for all the studios.

[Team_Litt]

Yes, losing friends and people you have worked with since even before being acquired by Sony is always such a healthy thing.

[vongruetz]

Sadly, yes it can be. A studio needs to be financially viable in order to exist. The people who work there want to have salaries. This isn't a charity. It's a business. If two people are doing the same job, and you only need one, then it makes no sense to pay for two. "But they're both such nice people and really good friends" doesn't cut it in a business. I'm sorry it sounds mean, but it's life.

[iceman06]

Dude...really!?!? It's a BUSINESS. Unfortunately, NOBODY is immune from BUSINESS decisions. So, for a healthy BUSINESS...yes...this will be better. Layoffs ALWAYS suck! But, they are a necessary evil of companies. Especially one that had grown to the size of Sony.

[Majin-vegeta]

Lol I love how people are making this into a gloom and doom.Do you know how many games are cancelled on a daily basis??Only these get attention cuz they're brought to our attention.Unlike most other ones.

@Nero You haven't been here long enough but.I'll let you in on a little secret.During the PS3& 360 era this site was filled with Sony is doomed articles.Especially when the Sony hack back in 2011 happened.Just food for thought.

@Benni.I'm sure there are more but you get my point.

[Nero1314]

Have you not seen all the doom and gloom xbox one articles

[kingdom18]

And they are just as stupid.

[Bennibop]

agreed see http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[PSNintyGamer]

So a cancelled game is a good thing?

[Majin-vegeta]

FFS stop putting words in my mouth when I never said that.

"Can’t speak for all studios but if a project isn’t looking good, it’s not looking good right? why waste more time making it. SSM just went thru this and the same is happening here.

Tell me would you keep pissing money on something that wasn't working or would you scrap it all together??

[Team_Litt]

No, instead we should be elated that there are mass layoffs and game cancellations at Sony. This happens all the time right? I mean so what if a person has been there for 10 years and is now jobless? This is no time for gloominess, this is the time for jubilation.
Come on everybody, be joyous, because yet again the PS division is proving to be immune to the company wide restructure brought on by financial woes.

Massive /s for those who are sarcasm detection impaired.

[mark3214uk]

xbots force is strong in this thread

[EXVirtual]

Ah, they need the ammo.
Seriously, I don't know why so many people are acting like Sony's going bankrupt tomorrow. This just seems like a basic restructuring.

[GentlemenRUs]

I knew there would be troll coming to spin this to kingdom come... Sigh...

Anyway, Not Sony's fault, It's the economy's fault.

EDIT: Tehe.

[iceman06]

No, it's a little bit of both. The economy just forced this to happen sooner than later. However, it's been Sony's staunch stance on remaining in OTHER markets that haven't fared well in over 10 years that has caused some major changes to be made. The games division was probably the last one that they wanted to touch. But, there was still some "fat" remaining. Whether that be projects in development hell, redundancies within the company, or both, they have to go to become more efficient and ultimately more profitable. Sucks for those that get laid off. But this is business. People get hired, fired, and downsized everyday. It's just that it is somehow more personal for this industry.

[Bundi]

Like I said in the previous article, this is in no way normal, this "happens all the time" tagline/excuse/spin/damage control is not the case.

You don't just layoff 50 people mid project and call it normal or getting in new blood.

[Bennibop]

If you to these studios websites they are also currently hiring so it would seem like a restructure and refocus.

[XtraTrstrL]

It seems like something that could be normal, it's just that we are hearing about it instead of it going under the radar. Ever since the announcements of X1 and PS4 last year, the articles have been nonstop, no potential piece of news goes unreported on Sony or Microsoft right now. So, it may seem bigger than it really is, just because it's so exposed to us.

[Hicken]

Which project?

[Team_Litt]

Umm stab in the dark here, I'd wager he means this very project that was canned...or the Santa Monica project since that one had over 50 people canned along with it.

Either way, take your pick. Both times people trued to sweep it under the rug.

[iceman06]

It IS entirely normal when a company announces that they are RESTRUCTURING! Sony announced this shortly after the fiscal year...LAST YEAR. This entire year they have been trimming division by division. Since the Playstation brand had a BIG launch, they probably didn't want anybody to flip out and overreact (much as we have seen here). So, they saved that division until last.
Restructuring ISN'T the norm. It only happens when companies looses focus and becomes too large for it's own profits. Sony was overextended in markets that hadn't been pulling in money for years. It was time to do something or be forced to make even more drastic decisions (bankruptcy?).
We have all known of Sony's financials. Lord knows we get enough reminders in the comment section. So, while it's surprising which studios it's happening in (maybe), it's not as much a surprise that this was coming.

[mhunterjr]

I'm really surprised by these Sony layoffs. I actually thought their games division would be immune to such actions considering it's the only unit it the company performing well. I figured they'd be hiring, not firing...

[XtraTrstrL]

I wonder how all these layoffs and cancelled projects effects that estimated number of PS4 games in development we were given a while back that was like 40+ internal projects alone.

[bleedsoe9mm]

might not feel they need them , they're not able to keep up to hardware supply even without them . why spend the money if its not needed

[WeAreLegion]

I wish Sony would talk. This is really starting to worry me.

[polow got sol]

This is definitely a major concern. It makes sense now why sony wont be at pax and isn't hyping e3

[mark3214uk]

sony doesnt need to hype they just deliver

[hello12]

Sony likely has to keep everything for E3. Pax is US centric show. E3 is global. If Sony has games to show it better to show everything at E3

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Things not looking good for Sony, leaders in technology also need some restructuring, what really worries me is why they are investing on new technology (VR) when they can use the capital to stabilize their name and take care of their amazing studios.

[OiNioB]

Sony needs to go private, like Valve, and Dell

[Godmars290]

Then the game division would need to split off. Would very like then give up media support.

[Fz6soldier]

Looks like Sony is setting standards for their devs.

[hello12]

Sony earlier this week more than doubled its annual net loss projection for the fiscal year through this past March to 520 billion yen, or $6.4 billion. That would be its fourth straight year of red ink and worst loss ever.

"As CEO, I take this very seriously. But at the same time, it strengthened my resolve to transform Sony," Hirai told hundreds of journalists. "Employees too want to restore Sony to its former glory and go beyond."

Personally speaking as an x box fan. Sony is doing the right thing here (restructure) or go bust.

I said this months ago this was likely to occur and i got lots of disagrees from Sony fans.

You can clearly see why some games had no multiplayer component it was cut out to reduce the budgets.

Sony will have games to show at E3, but unfortunately Sony for a while will have to depend on mostly multiplat's (ports from PC) and Indies.

I say by 2016 if they keep to the restructuring plan will likely come out of it the mess they're in.

[TristanPR77]

Looks like the term "restructuring" is not know on the gaming industry. I work for a big telecommunications company and we have experienced this, the company try to refocus, make some layoff where there is no fruit, save some money and they keep growing.

This is totally normal, don't expect an xbone fanboy wishing in his soul for Sony's bankruptcy to understand these things.

[SH1ELD]

This isn't new to this industry.Valve made the same thing to their employees.They're targeting open minded peoples with creativity which is reasonable to make the actual money that spend to game makers translated to profit.There no business in the industry wants to spend on something may turn them to lose.

[Platinum_k]

This is normal for a progressing and growing Company such as Sony.

Be Thankful it's only one game being canned... and from the sound of it, it wasn't going to be an epic/good game anyways.

Why spend on sub-par games while you can invest on something that's worth investing on???

That being said, I hope those people who got laid off finds decent jobs soon!