Sony Lays Off Unknown Number of Workers at PlayStation Visual Arts Studio

Sony has reportedly laid off an unspecified number of employees from its San Diego-based Visual Arts studio and PS Studios Malaysia. This news comes from a Kotaku report and confirmed LinkedIn posts by former employees. Affected staff were informed earlier this week that March 7th would be their last day. The layoffs included developers who worked on various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio.

Visual Arts, a support studio providing art and technical assistance to other PlayStation first-party studios, notably contributed to the recent The Last of Us Part I and Part II remasters. IGN has independently verified multiple LinkedIn posts from laid-off Visual Arts employees, as well as at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. One former Visual Arts employee attributed the layoffs to "multiple project cancellations."

This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts in the past two years, following an earlier wave in 2023. The current number of remaining Visual Arts employees and their current projects remain unclear. IGN has contacted PlayStation for comment.

These layoffs reflect a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations within the games industry. While over 10,000 game developer layoffs were estimated in 2023, and over 14,000 in 2024, precise figures for 2025 are less readily available due to decreased transparency from affected studios.