Sony has recently laid off an unspecified number of employees from its Visual Arts studio in San Diego and PS Studios Malaysia, as reported by Kotaku and corroborated by former employees on LinkedIn. According to Kotaku, the affected staff were notified earlier this week that their last day would be March 7. These layoffs impacted developers who had worked on various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, known for its art and technical support, has collaborated with other PlayStation first-party studios, notably on the remasters of The Last of Us Part 1 and 2.
IGN has confirmed through LinkedIn posts that multiple developers from Visual Arts, along with at least one from PS Studios Malaysia, have been let go. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that the layoffs were a result of "multiple project cancellations."
This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within the last two years, following a similar event in 2023. It remains uncertain how many employees are still with Visual Arts and what projects the studio is currently focusing on. IGN has sought a comment from PlayStation regarding these developments.
These layoffs add to the ongoing trend of job cuts and project cancellations in the gaming industry, which began to escalate in 2023. That year alone saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a number that increased to over 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend has persisted, though precise figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the exact numbers affected.
