Console sales expectations PlayStation 5 (PS5), from Sony, have not been fully fulfilled. Therefore, the company makes the radical decision to lay off about 900 video game management employees or, in other words, 8% of its workforce.
These mass layoffs are not an indication that the company is in financial trouble, said Sony Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan. He explains that the company needs to make some adjustments and laying off 900 employees would be a way of taking a step back to boost itself in the second quarter of the year.
“We need to meet the expectations of developers and players and continue to drive future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we’re prepared to continue,” Ryan said, according to a review by Guardian.
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Executives like Sony don’t seem to admit that the video game business is in crisis, even though everyone in one way or another is enjoying a video game. Sales are not enough to sustain some companies and, according to Infobae, there is a wave of layoffs in companies such as Activision Blizzard, Xbox and Riot Games.
These three companies mentioned laid off about 2,000 workers just a month ago. The Guardian says that in London, PlayStation studios will close completely.
“While these are difficult times, it is not indicative of a lack of strength in our company, our brand or our industry. Our goal is to remain agile and adaptable and continue to focus on delivering the best gaming experiences possible now and in the future,” Ryan said, insisting that there is no crisis in the video game industry.
Regardless of whether there is a crisis or not, the PS5 has been one of Sony’s hardest hit consoles. It was born with the covid-19 pandemic and that situation, in which the world was locked down, caused them to have production problems. Finding a console was difficult and that caused the costs of the device to rise.
Now, although it rebounded in terms of massive sales, the global economy has not recovered.