Sony has recently conducted layoffs at its Visual Arts studio in San Diego and PS Studios Malaysia, affecting an undisclosed number of employees, according to reports from Kotaku and statements from former staff on LinkedIn.
Kotaku reports that the affected employees were notified earlier this week that their last day would be March 7. The layoffs impacted developers who had worked on various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio. Visual Arts, primarily an art and technical support studio, has collaborated with other PlayStation first-party studios, notably on the remasters of The Last of Us Part 1 and 2.
IGN has corroborated these layoffs by identifying several developers on LinkedIn who confirmed their departure from Visual Arts, as well as at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that these layoffs were a result of "multiple project cancellations."
This marks the second instance of layoffs at Visual Arts within the last two years, following a similar action in 2023. It remains unclear how many employees are currently at Visual Arts or what projects the studio is currently involved in. IGN has sought comment from PlayStation on these developments.
These layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the gaming industry, which began 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 persisted, though exact figures are harder to come by as more studios choose not to disclose the full extent of their layoffs.
