Replace, 12:26 p.m., 10/24/23:
Recreation Informer reached out to Sony and PlayStation in search of affirmation of Media Molecule layoffs and extra following the discharge of GLHF’s report. A spokesperson for Sony Interactive Leisure despatched us a hyperlink to Media Molecule’s Twitter account, the place it shared the next message:
The unique story continues under…
Unique story, 9:32 a.m., 10/24/23:
PlayStation first-party studio Media Molecule, which is the crew behind Goals and LittleBigPlanet, is reportedly set to layoff round 20 staff. That is in response to a brand new report from Sports activities Illustrated’s GLHF, which states the information of impending layoffs was revealed throughout an inside assembly held right this moment on the studio.
The layoffs are set to scale back crew workers by 15 to twenty%, with a headcount discount of 135 to 115, in response to GLHF. The report does not point out a particular cause why past workers discount, however Recreation Informer has reached out to PlayStation to substantiate the layoffs and related numbers, why the layoffs may be occurring, and if affected staff will obtain severance; we’ll replace the story if we be taught extra or obtain remark again from PlayStation.
Media Molecule was initially an unbiased studio earlier than PlayStation acquired it in 2010. The crew is liable for LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, Tearaway, and Goals. Learn Recreation Informer’s LittleBigPlanet 2 evaluation right here after which try our Goals evaluation.
These reported Media Molecule layoffs be part of an sadly ever-growing record of layoffs affecting the studios behind video games launched in 2023, which by all accounts is likely one of the greatest years in gaming by way of releases. In January, Microsoft laid off 10,000 staff amidst its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it accomplished earlier this month.
In August, Hanging Distance Studios, the crew behind final 12 months’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off greater than 30 staff, and that very same month, Mass Impact and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 staff, together with long-time studio veterans. The next month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off roughly 45% of its workers.
Simply this month, The Final of Us developer Naughty Canine has laid off at the very least 25 staff and Telltale Video games has gone by layoffs as nicely, though an precise variety of laid off staff has not but been revealed.
The hearts of the Recreation Informer workers are with everybody affected by these layoffs and people nonetheless on the studio.
[Source: GLHF]
