Sony Cuts Jobs at PlayStation Visual Arts Studio

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 confirmed 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 included developers who had worked on various projects, notably a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, known for providing art and technical support, has collaborated with other PlayStation first-party studios, contributing to projects like The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters.

IGN has highlighted several LinkedIn posts from developers who confirmed their layoffs from Visual Arts, along with at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that the layoffs resulted from "multiple project cancellations."

This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within the last two years, following another round in 2023 that also impacted an unknown number of staff. It remains uncertain how many employees are left at Visual Arts and what projects they are currently working on. IGN has sought comment from PlayStation regarding these developments.

These layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations in the gaming industry that began in 2023. That year saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a number that increased to more than 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend persists, though exact figures are less clear as more studios are reluctant to disclose the number of affected employees.