Layoffs are rocking the video game world. None of the main PlayStation studios are immune from this. Reportedly at least 25 developers were fired from Naughty Dog. A number of departments were affected, including art, production and quality assurance. Most of those released were required to be responsible for quality control.
Kotaku’s Ethan Gach talks about the situation with the authors of The Last of Us and Uncharted. He learned about this from two sources familiar with the situation. They are due to be released at the end of October this year, so they are expected to work in the following weeks. They should have found out about everything last week, and everyone on the team should have known about it. pressure not to disclose any information. In addition, management has still not offered them severance pay since they are not regular employees. The cuts shouldn’t have affected them. As of July of this year, Naughty Dog had over 400 employees.
The layoffs may be related to problems in the standalone multiplayer game set in the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us. In May, journalist Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reported that work on the game was expected to slow down significantly, the team had been cut, and Naughty Dog management was to reassess the quality of the multiplayer and its prospects for profitability. Bungie should have started this when questioned the multiplayer of The Last of Us and expressed concern that the project would be able to interest players in the long term. It is the Destiny writers at Bungie who must oversee all live service projects created at PlayStation Studios.
What does The Last of Us multiplayer look like now? Apparently, it has not been cancelled, but is actually frozen.
Naughty Dog’s latest major game is The Last of Us Part 2. The continuation of the story of Joel and Ellie was released in 2020 on PlayStation 4. Since then, we have only seen a remake of the first part, which was called The Last of Us Part I. It appeared on PS5 in 2022 and on PC. this March. It has long been assumed that an improved version of the second part should be released, both for PS5 and mainly for PC.
It is appropriate to remind you of one important thing. a few months later he announced retired co-president of Naughty Dog. Evan Wells has worked at the company for 19 years, and Neil Druckmann, who is also creative director, will head the studio.
Jim Ryan is also retiring.. The CEO and President of Sony Interactive Entertainment will step down on the last day of March next year. Hiroki Totoki, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sony Group Corporation, will serve as interim CEO.
Already in January, layoffs hit studio 343 Industries (Halo) from the Microsoft stable hard. In recent months and weeks, other large companies have joined them, such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Epic Games (laying off 16% of employees) or Embracer Group (cancelling studios, as well as unannounced projects and layoffs).
Source :Indian TV
