Tokyo:
Sony PlayStation said Tuesday it is laying off eight percent of its global workforce as the technology industry continues to battle a wave of job losses.
PlayStation chief Jim Ryan called it “sad news” and said the cut would affect 900 people around the world, including studios that make video games.
The cuts would see the company's PlayStation London studio, which was founded in 2002 and specialized in virtual reality gaming projects, closed entirely, the company said.
A separate statement said that US studios Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog were also affected.
Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, said more resources were needed as the company focused on mobile and PC gaming.
“We have looked at our studios and our portfolio, evaluated projects at various stages of development, and have decided that some of those projects will not move forward,” he said.
“Our philosophy has always been to enable creative experimentation. Sometimes great ideas don't become great games,” Hulst added.
The cuts come after Sony warned this month that sales of the PlayStation 5 would fall short of original targets as the flagship console is currently in its fourth year on the market.
Sony's video game segment had a hit with “Marvel's Spider-Man 2,” which was released on the PS5 last October and became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game in the first 24 hours of release.
But the PlayStation 5 faces stiff competition from the Nintendo Switch and could see a tougher rivalry with Microsoft's Xbox, following the tech giant's acquisition of 'Call of Duty' maker Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft said in January it would lay off 1,900 people, or eight percent of the workforce, from its gaming division as it consolidated its acquisition of Activision.
In total, the tech industry lost 260,000 jobs last year, according to layoffs.fyi, a California-based website that tracks the sector.
So far this year, 43,957 have been laid off at 171 companies, the site shows.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)