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Playstation Laying Off 900 People - Multiple Studios Effected (Insomniac/Guerilla/Firesprite) - London Studio Shuts Down
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
MR ARCADE FOREVER
Member
The Jim Ryan ripple effect is here!
Bernardougf
Gold Member
I wished ... the problem is that I dont think sony is aiming at THIS problem right now.. they have other things to blame other than the culture of their western studios... for now. Hollywood is only starting to wake after years of bullshit, lets see how many years it takes for the gaming industry see the same bullshit.
Thank the gods for japan/asia keeping together
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Jim Ryan and Totoki working wonders.
Totoki stressed profit margins last week, Jim Ryan is officially leaving at the end of March, but give Jimmy credit. He's leaving anyway and decided to take one on the chin on his way out. Everyone can just blame him for everything.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Exactly, which is why they are having a good hard luck at what they are spending, because they have had unprecedented success and yet things aren't looking that great financially, if they actually hit a rough patch things could go south really quick.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Yup.
And the Bungie excuse for bad profit margin only goes so far. They never broke it out in detail how much of lagging profit margin is du to Bungie's $3.6 billion buy out. But only a portion of that will be costs of acquisition. Not the whole thing.
So if Sony's annual margin lately is 6% vs 12%. That's a 6% difference. Their gaming division revenue is something like $30 billion (give or take). A 6% differential is about $2 billion. Two years in a row is $4 billion differential (actually more like $3.5 billion as the final fiscal quarter isnt done yet). You dont amortize the entire Bungie acquisition in two years. So there's more to the dropping margins than solely Bungie acquisition costs.
Bernardougf
Gold Member
Angelcurio
Member
While the company is hit with layoffs, the one responsible for first party games doesn't quit. While in past generations we had new and weird games like Patapon, Loco Roco, Gravity Rush, etc, everything as of late has been to focus o Gaas or giving us two remakes of both The Last of Us titles. Helmen Hust has been a failure imho.
OGM_Madness
Member
My first thought. This is the consequence of AI.AI replacing everyone
My other thought was: 900 is a lot of people!
ManaByte
Gold Member
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Its amazing how well MM stays alive.
ReBurn
Gold Member
He easily has millions in stock equity I'm sure.
Hero of Spielberg
Member
You think he’d do it by choice? Feels like a bit of a ‘clean up your mess on the way out’ kind of thing.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Ryan's nephew or someone must work there, lol.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Sony have already been addressing that with the streaming tech in PS Portal, though. Remote Play & PS.Link in tandem providing one of the best local streaming solutions for gaming out there.
In any case, allowing console owners with headsets to stream PC VR games is just another option, and options are always nice. Provide that choice for them because it's the least you can do as a platform holder to show you appreciate the support of your most loyal customers. And yes, those who bought a PSVR2 are among the most loyal (and highest ARPU) customers in the PlayStation console ecosystem. Last thing you want to do as Sony is leave them high and dry with a $550 peripheral you quietly sunset after barely a year, and can't even give them a consolation in having more games to play with it (even if that's through streaming, and I don't think those who bought a headset are fussed about negligible latency if it happens or motion sickness, not in any major way anyhow).
Again, that's a really mid-'90s SEGA move of stupid, and that does diminish faith among the most loyal in the customer base over time. It'll make them feel jaded, and hesitant to throw more big money into future hardware from the same brand. We have textbook examples of this in gaming history with not just SEGA, but also companies like Atari, and even Microsoft more recently. If Sony want to make PSVR2 natively compatible on PC, that's perfectly fine. But don't do that without doing something with it for your console customers as well, hence if they get a way to let it stream PC VR games to PSVR2 for PS5 owners, at least that's giving them something interesting to do with a $550 peripheral they bought into Day 1.
As of December 9th, a specific date you conveniently keep wanting to ignore, as if zero systems have sold since that date and you know that's false.
At least acknowledge that much and know that as of today's date, it's definitely a lot more than 16.4 million, even if it very likely will still come under the (somewhat unrealistic) 25 million target.
Insomniac: cancelled Spiderverse GaaS (most likely)
Guerrilla: potentially cancelled Horizon GaaS
Those would be my guesses.
Jim Ryan knew about the sexual harassment at ABK and did nothing to stop it?
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bitbydeath
Member
Are they cleaning out more purple hairs, as they recently did with Bungie? If so i’m all for it.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Perrott
Gold Member
Boaty McBoatface
Member
Boaty McBoatface
Member
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Even though rates are high, borrowing qualifications "should" be more stringent than the wild west 2008 crisis. So whether it's a home mortgage or a business loan, you'd think the money loaners and the borrowers would be more keen on their cost controls. Banks more control before dishing out loans. And borrowers more cautious about being big spenders so they dont run out or get nailed with renewed rates at triple the % than a few years ago.
No different than a home mortgage. It's about net income in vs. costs/expenses out. Be in the black and you're good. Be in the black a lot (buffer a bunch of money for a rainy day) and you can survive any crisis. Go into the red and you're fucked. Go into the red big time like Mr Bottomless Pockets spending bank's money like it grows on trees and youre really fucked.
I dont know what the US is like, but to get a mortgage, Canada has a stress test they implemented 3 years ago. The government got involved since rates were rock bottom and they had a hunch things would shit storm so they forced applicants to qualify for like a 5% rate even though at the time mortgage rates were maybe 2%. They knew when rates eventually go up, a lot of people will overshoot their costs and go broke. They basically acted like everyone's babysitter because they know home buyers would amp up on pricey homes at 2% mortgages and go bust if they hit 5%. So to ensure the borrower has enough spread, people got automatically teste at like 5.3%. I forget what the exact rules were since I blow past them no problem, but the purpose was to decrease people going bust.
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LavitzSlambert
Member
Only for select new or returning subscribers.
Boaty McBoatface
Member
Any links? Did a basic search but couldn't find anything
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I did a search now too. Only thing I found was this from 2022.
PlayStation's London Studio working on online co-op combat game set in fantasy London
Earlier this year, it was revealed that PlayStation's London Studio, which is best known for its work on Singstar and B…
www.eurogamer.net
ChorizoPicozo
Member
is part of the issue in a way
ProtoByte
Member
I don't think you understand what that actually means.
This has literally zip to do with AI.
ProtoByte
Member
You don't know what you're talking about. You could slash executive pay out and it wouldn't make a material difference, not least of which because most executive pay is not even cash. How much money do you think these guys are taking home exactly?
Varteras
Gold Member
AltogetherAndrews
Member
Seeing a lot of recruiters putting up their resumes on linkedin. That really has got to be one of the shakiest jobs in gaming.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
So instead of letting go 900 workers, get rid of the CEO, and a few other execs, promote from within so you don’t have to pay the new guys 344x the salary of the average worker and keep all that talent in the process.
You can let go the untalented hacks passings off as executives who are clearly responsible for wasting the record high profits they had earned just a few years ago with poor investments into bungie, epic, psvr2, and gaas.
ProtoByte
Member
Oh Jesus. You know what? Enough with the middle manning. Time to grow up and stop looking at misleading line charts from political fraud organizations.
Compensation Information for Robert A. Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC. | Salary.com
Salary, bonuses, stock options, stock awards and other compensation for Robert A. Kotick, Chief Executive Officer at ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC.. How much did Robert A. Kotick make as Chief Executive Officer of ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC. in 2019
www.salary.com
As you can see, more than 84% of Kotick (who may well have been the most handsomely paid exec in the game industry) was stock. Non-liquid cash. Money the was actually invested back into the company he was running. Because investors want to know that the people leading the charge have a personal stake and incentive in the direction of the company.
The next year, where he was "paid" 154 million, almost 97% of that was stock options.
So enough with this notion that cutting executive pay would do anything.
Dude, really? Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst were promoted from within. Connie Booth was promoted from within. Neil Druckmann started as an intern at Naughty Dog and he's now co-president, and everyone blames him every problem at ND, rightly or wrongly. Promoting from within doesn't mean everything going to go the way you personally want it to, nor does it dissolve the reality of business in a shit global economy. If you want to blame anyone for that, blame the governments of the world, and the people that went along for the joyride we got taken on in 2020.
By the way, why do you think people from within take higher positions? Solemn responsibility feels? Sure, passion comes into it, but taking higher positions with more responsibility is not easy work, contrary to what the wannabe proletariat thinks. It's stressful and high intensity. Jim Ryan talked about that openly.
The massive pay bump is the incentive.
Classic example of reasonable risks being taken and not working out. So when people pay lip service to innovation, proactive changes to models ($0n¥ has 2 many 3rd person cinematic moovy gaemz!!) and a lack of PS3 "arrogance" understand that this is what will happen for a good fraction of the gambits.
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HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
Good Jimmy's parting gift to his successor so he doesn't need to fire all the people on his first day.
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Beer Baelly
Al Pachinko, Konami President
Sony Japan like
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
No doubt.
For sake of best morale, it’s always better to let the old guard take the punches on the way out.
CityHunter1981
Member
It’s really a shame that despite profits, the management rather cut staff instead of reducing their own income (they probably even get more afterwards)…
At least they will tell the people who are affected now and not like in some other companies, where they have announced staff reduction, but will tell the employees at a later date (who wants to work with this uncertainty).
At least they will tell the people who are affected now and not like in some other companies, where they have announced staff reduction, but will tell the employees at a later date (who wants to work with this uncertainty).
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Some companies do a two prong approach. Voluntary payouts to leave or retire. Takes a while to shake it out. Then they analyze who is left and the fire people if not enough people took the package. So someone can want to stay, but still get gassed months later.
Baki
Member
Totoki fingerprints all over this. The man has no vision and this is what happens when you puts bean counter in charge. PS challenges are result of “safe” product moves that come from an upper management that does not provide space for big swings and a weak release calendar due to under investment. This cowardly leadership is why Sony trades at a sub 10 P/E ratio. They need more studios, not less.
Heart_Attack
Member
Sony's 1st Party Output has been garbage this generation. They need go clean house and invest in Japanese studios instead of the same AAA LGTB Apocalyptic cinematic game.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
Yep. It’s time for Sony and everyone to stop following gaas and Microsoft strategy. Nintendo is doing their own thing. They are content and confident.
Meanwhile, Sony is either doing what Microsoft is doing or investing into gaas that fails.
Another thing is woke. Everything is woke. Ragnarok? Woke. Sm2? Woke.
And games are too long
MilkyJoe
Member
Yikes, live service titles...
metro.co.uk
New PS5 narrative games ‘requires a re-evaluation of how we operate’ admits Sony
The head of PlayStation Studios has hinted at the decisions underling the mass layoffs at Sony, implying things will never be the same again.
metro.co.uk
Thick Thighs Save Lives
Gold Member
Media Molecule Were High on Sony’s List of Potential Studio Closures Allegedly
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
Sorry, I just do not buy this having anything to do with the "failure" (what failure?) of the service game strategy. Its more to do with overstaffing post-Covid and a bunch of expensive studios not covering costs.
London Studio hasn't put out a "hit" since The Getaway in 2002, let that sink in.
Its also unquestionably the most expensive site in the UK operation, so doubtless was continually running at a defecit. This is probably why MM have been spared for now.
London Studio hasn't put out a "hit" since The Getaway in 2002, let that sink in.
Its also unquestionably the most expensive site in the UK operation, so doubtless was continually running at a defecit. This is probably why MM have been spared for now.
Japan will be impacted too.
This is after Sony has already closed Japan Studio in 2021, with only a much smaller Team Asobi surviving the cut back then.
Not only Sony won't invest in japanese studios, they are promising to hit the ones they already own with this round of layoffs (with the proper measures to comply with the japanese law).
So you are going to get more of the latter.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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