By Sagar V. Mankar 
Sony’s PlayStation division has once again reduced its workforce, with layoffs hitting Visual Arts Studio in San Diego and PlayStation Studios Malaysia. The cutbacks come amid ongoing restructuring of Sony’s game development operations, particularly in the United States.
According to Kotaku, an “unknown number of staff” at Visual Arts were informed that March 7 would be their last day at Sony. These layoffs reportedly extend beyond just the teams working on recently canceled projects.
Visual Arts, which provides art and technical support to PlayStation’s first-party studios, has played a crucial role in developing games like The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters in collaboration with Naughty Dog.
Johann Affendy Mahfoor, former senior project manager at PS Studios Malaysia, confirmed the cuts in a LinkedIn post, writing: “There was a wave of workforce reduction and unfortunately I’m no longer part of the PS brand.” He expressed particular dismay that “high performers and key individuals who were actively working on projects” were among those laid off.
These cuts follow Sony’s string of disappointments in the live-service game space. The company recently canceled live-service projects at both Bend Studio and reportedly at Bluepoint Games (rumored to be a God of War spin-off). Last year, Sony also shut down its multiplayer shooter Concord shortly after launch and subsequently closed developer Firewalk Studios.