Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Tuesday that it will lay off about 900 employees at its PlayStation division, or 8% of its global workforce, becoming the latest technology company to announce job cuts.
“After careful consideration and many months of leadership discussions, we have decided to continue operations,” Jim Ryan, the division’s president and CEO, said in an email to employees published by the company. “It became clear that we needed to make changes in order to grow and develop the company.” company.
He added that employees in all of the company’s regions will be affected by the layoffs. PlayStation’s London studio will be permanently closed, with several other studios also expected to be affected.
The Japanese gaming giant lowered its sales forecast for its flagship console PlayStation 5 on February 14 after warning of a decline in demand. At the time, Sony said it expected PS5 sales to reach 21 million units in the fiscal year ending March, a downward revision from its previous forecast of nearly 25 million units.
The company’s stock price fell sharply following the announcement of lower forecasts.
Analysts had predicted that Sony could launch a refreshed version of the PlayStation 5 this year to drum up interest in the console.
– CNBC Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
This is breaking news and is being updated.