Sony has recently laid off an unspecified number of employees from its Visual Arts studio in San Diego and PS Studios Malaysia, according to reports from Kotaku and LinkedIn testimonials from former employees.
Kotaku reported that staff were notified earlier this week that their last day would be March 7. The layoffs affected 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, notably on The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters.
IGN has identified several developers on LinkedIn who confirmed their layoffs from Visual Arts, alongside at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that these layoffs resulted from "multiple project cancellations."
This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within two years, following a similar event in 2023. The current number of employees at Visual Arts and their 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 in the gaming industry, which began in 2023. That year saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a figure that increased to over 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend persists, though exact numbers are less clear as more studios choose not to disclose the extent of the layoffs.
