Japanese tech giant, Sony announced on Tuesday that it is closing a facility in London and slashing approximately 900 workers, according to Reuters.
Days after Sony reduced its predicted yearly sales target for the PlayStation 5, the company is laying off around 8% of its workforce throughout the Asia and America.
Jim Ryan, the head of Sony's gaming division, stated, "We have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable," referring it to modifications in the way the video game business creates, releases, and markets its goods. Ryan is going to retire in March.
By making this step, Sony joins companies like Microsoft, opens a new tab, and Riot Games, owned by Tencent, which has also recently laid off thousands of workers because of the gaming market's sluggish recovery.
Sony PlayStation's logo is on display at the Tokyo Game Show 2019 in Chiba.
Despite being better than a loss of more than 5% in 2022, the worldwide video game business only climbed by 0.6% to $184 billion last year, according to industry tracker Newzoo.
Other Sony studios will also be affected by the layoffs, known as Insomniac Games, located in the United States, which worked on titles like "Marvel's Spider-Man 2," and Naughty Dog, the company behind "The Last of Us."
Earlier this month, Sony revealed that it has no plans to release any major franchise games in the upcoming fiscal year and that it expect a steady fall in PlayStation 5 unit price starting in the following fiscal year.
Since its launch in the late 2020s, the gadget has sold 50 million units worldwide. In the first few years, the entertainment conglomerate slowed down its manufacturing due to shortage of supplies during the pandemic.
