Sony has reportedly laid off an unspecified number of employees from its San Diego-based Visual Arts studio and PS Studios Malaysia. This news, initially reported by Kotaku and corroborated by former employees' LinkedIn posts, reveals that affected staff were informed their last day would be March 7th. The layoffs impacted developers who contributed to various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio.
Visual Arts, a support studio providing art and technical assistance to other PlayStation first-party studios, notably contributed to the recent The Last of Us Part I and Part II remasters. IGN has independently verified LinkedIn posts from several laid-off Visual Arts employees, as well as at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. One former Visual Arts employee attributed the layoffs to "multiple project cancellations."
This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within two years, following an earlier, undisclosed number of job cuts in 2023. The current size of the Visual Arts team and its ongoing projects remain unclear. IGN has contacted PlayStation for comment.
These layoffs are part of a broader trend in the games industry, marked by significant layoffs and project cancellations since 2023. While estimates for 2023 and 2024 exceeded 10,000 and 14,000 game developer layoffs respectively, precise figures for 2025 are less readily available due to decreased transparency from affected studios.
