In the wake of Sony’s devastating round of layoffs that will result in around 900 staff let go from the PlayStation business, a new report has made serious allegations about Sony-owned studio Firesprite.
According to Eurogamer, the Liverpool-based studio suffered from crunch, high-profile exits, and a toxic workplace culture. One source told the website Firesprite had suffered "death by a thousand cuts.” Sony has yet to comment. IGN has asked the company for a response.
Sony bought Firesprite in 2021 after it had made a number of PlayStation games, including The Playroom, Run Sackboy! Run!, and PSVR game The Persistence. It went on to develop PSVR2 launch title Horizon Call of the Mountain, under supervision from Horizon custodian Guerrilla Games.
Firesprite was one of the studios affected by the latest round of Sony layoffs, suffering an undisclosed number of cuts and, reportedly, the cancellation of a Twisted Metal live-service game. Firesprite is now continuing work on a PlayStation game codenamed Project Heartbreak.
Sony’s London studio is to close entirely, suggesting its in-development PlayStation 5 game is cancelled. The layoffs have also hit The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog, the aforementioned Guerrilla, and Spider-Man developer Insomniac. According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online game survived the cull.
The Sony cuts come during one of the most difficult periods the game industry has ever faced, with mass layoffs throughout 2023 and continuing into 2024. Last month, Microsoft axed an eye-watering 1,900 staff from its video game workforce following the $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard. IGN recently spoke to developers about these layoffs to try to explain what was causing them.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
