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 through LinkedIn posts by former employees.

According to Kotaku, affected staff were notified earlier this week that their employment would end on March 7. The layoffs included 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 also identified several developers on LinkedIn who confirmed their layoffs from Visual Arts, along with at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee stated on LinkedIn that these 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. The current number of employees at Visual Arts and the studio's ongoing projects remain unclear. IGN has sought comment from PlayStation regarding these developments.

These layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the gaming industry, which began to escalate in 2023. That year saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a number that increased to over 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend has continued, though exact figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the full extent of their layoffs.