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, including 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 on projects like The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters.

IGN has also identified several developers on LinkedIn who mentioned being laid off from Visual Arts, along with at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee indicated that the layoffs resulted from "multiple project cancellations."

This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within two years, following another wave in 2023 that also affected an unknown number of employees. It remains unclear how many staff members are left at Visual Arts and what projects the studio is currently working on. IGN has contacted PlayStation for further comment.

These layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations in the gaming industry that began in 2023, with over 10,000 game developers laid off that year. The number increased to over 14,000 in 2024, and the trend has persisted into 2025, though precise figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the exact number of affected employees.