Sony Cuts Jobs at PlayStation Visual Arts Studio

Sony has recently conducted layoffs affecting an unspecified number of employees at 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, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, known for providing art and technical support to PlayStation's first-party studios, notably contributed to The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters.

IGN has highlighted several LinkedIn posts from developers confirming their layoffs from Visual Arts and 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 a similar event in 2023. The current staff size and ongoing projects at Visual Arts remain unclear. IGN has sought comment from PlayStation.

These layoffs add to the ongoing trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the gaming industry, a trend that began in 2023. That year, over 10,000 game developers were estimated to have been laid off, a number that increased to over 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend continues, though exact figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the number of affected employees.