PlayStation CEO comments on layoffs

While we've seen some great games released this year and the year before, it's hard to say we're in a great era of gaming, and that's largely due to how difficult it is for people to maintain their roles in this industry. Layoffs are becoming increasingly common, from development to media. Even the massive studios like PlayStation aren't immune to layoffs, and PlayStation Studios co-CEO Hermen Hulst was recently asked about job losses and how they affect the outlook for PlayStation.

Speaking to Variety (before Firewalk Studio was shut down, so don't expect comments on that), Hulst had the following to say:

"It's our duty to look at our our resource planning, and make sure that we run a sustainable business. That's part of being CEO. We never take that lightly, because we know these people personally, and it's very close to our hearts and the teams and good working atmospheres. But yes, we've had some layoffs," he said. "But it's also important to realize that on the content side, PlayStation Studios is now a much bigger organization than when it started. It's grown tremendously. And that is organic growth that our existing teams, I think, hired quite aggressively, as well as through M&A. So the organization, the employment is much greater now than it was, let's say, for example, five years ago."

Elsewhere in the interview, PlayStation Studios' other co-CEO Hideaki Nishino reveals that the PS5 Pro has actually been in development since before the launch of the PS5. "We started working on PS5 Pro even before PS5 launched — it was another five-year project for us. So there was a conversation around whether we wanted to do another Pro or not. But the main thing was, there are technologies we can grow up in three years time or five years time. So the innovation and technology advancement is more quicker in a modern world."