PlayStation Partner Deviation Games Hit With 'Major Layoffs' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 May 2023 / 7,654 Views
Deviation Games, who partnered with Sony Interactive Entertainment on an original IP, has been hit with layoffs.
Several employees at the studio have announced on social media they have been laid off and are now looking for work. Sources have told VideoGamesChronicle that as many as 90 employees at Deviation Games have been laid off.
"A bunch of my colleagues and friends were laid off from Deviation Games today," said Principal Technical Artist at Deviation Games Christopher Berry in a LinkedIn post stated. "If any recruiters have open positions please consider hiring some of these wickedly talented folks!"
Former Associate Producer at Deviation Games Jared B. via LinkedIn stated, "Unfortunately I was affected by the layoffs today at Deviation Games. I am looking for roles in Production immediately."
"I am looking for a new role and would appreciate your support," said former Senior Outsource Specialist at Deviation Games Josh Farmer via LinkedIn. "Thank you in advance for any connections, advice, or opportunities you can offer."
He continued, "Respect to Deviation Games and those who are impacted by the layoffs. Best of luck to everyone. It’s been an awesome 2 years with deviation and I’m sorry to see this happen to the studio and team."
Former Deviation Games Producer Aaron Gray via LinkedIn revealed he has also been laid off.
"Unfortunately my time at Deviation Games has come to an end as I was caught up in a major layoff," said Gray. "Thank you to Deviation Games for the opportunity and all those I worked with. Hope to run into you again in the future! In the meantime, I am now looking for Production roles in the gaming industry."
The co-founder and Chief creative officer Jason Blundell had left the studio in September 2022. Blundell was the former co-studio head at Call of Duty developer Treyarch. He was a lead creator on the popular Zombies mode in Call of Duty mode before he left the studio in 2020.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Looks like Sony is cutting costs just like every big tech company right now. Without having any insider knowledge, it sure looks to me like they have done some evaluation of projects and decided to cancel some that didn't seem very promising. It is a very normal and sensible thing for companies to do when preparing for an economic downturn. It also appears like they are trying to first cut costs with outside vendors, rather than laying off in house staff. I'm sure this is moderately helpful for morale.
Kind of odd for Sony to do so though, after they had one of their most profitable quarters ever. Still PlayStation never had many problems with shutting down studios and projects that where not up to par. Releasing a bad game hurts your brand more after all. And if a product isn't profitable why make it to begin with.
Big tech seems to be proactively cutting costs ahead of what appears to be a looming recession. In general, they've all been raking in record or near record profits. But they are anticipating a slowdown to come, and the recent trend has been to be proactive, rather than reactive.
That's a pretty new thing among big businesses. Most of the time they are reactive, and don't cut costs until they have already been beaten down.
Media Molecule and London Studio must be sweating bullets right now! Fr though, that really sucks. I was looking forward to seeing what Sony could release in what I imagine would've been the shooter space. First it was Final Strikes shooter, and now this one. Linkedin shows 133 employees, and if 90 were laid off, this project was definitely cancelled.
The gaming industry is always looking for talent though. Hopefully these devs are able to get back on their feet quickly.
are they being completely closed down or being reduced to a support studio????
Considering the other studio on similar type of contract was bought, I think they didn't meet the milestones and the contract may have been cancelled or funding is on hold until they hit the mark for next payment.
That's a shame, I was really looking forward to see what they were working on
It is what it is!
As the cycle goes on!
Very likely that the game has been Cancelled, that's a Massive percentage of the studio being laid off. Sad to see people lose their jobs
PlayStation is cutting projects left and right it seems. I guess the expansion of Insomniac and Santa Monica come at a massive cost. I guess this pretty much means the partnership is over.
Always bad to hear about layoffs. I am not convinced that this means they project they were doing for PlayStation was cut. This could indicate that an acquisition is coming tho.
"This could indicate that an acquisition is coming tho."
I'm not sure how...
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