Sony’s PlayStation Visual Arts studio, which often helps out Naughty Dog with its games, is currently going through layoffs due to restructuring.
The latest information comes straight from a former Project Coordinator at the Visual Arts Studio.
John Borba shared the news on LinkedIn where he revealed that the studio cut personnel due to what he’s describing as a “large pivot” in the development of a “AAA multiplayer game” that many believe is the delayed multiplayer spin-off to The Last of Us.
Borba worked remotely for the better part of the past two years as the “Art Outsourcing Coordinator on an unannounced AAA project.”
Onlookers on Reddit have spent the weekend theorizing which game Borba worked on aside from the multiplayer spin-off to The Last of Us.
One of the leading candidates is the canceled Deviation Games project. After all, a AAA FPS shooter by a pair of veterans of the Call of Duty franchise fits the description of a “highly stylized” game.
Other theories include the in-development MMORPG entry in the Horizon franchise by Guerilla Games or an unnamed new franchise that’s part of Sony’s massive push into the live-service genre through 2026.
Ultimately, the news has led to the discussion of how AAA game development has become unsustainable because of their lengthy development times.
Games as a Service is a way to extend how long a company can monetize a game with relatively minimal effort post-launch, but as we’ve learned in recent years, this is much easier said than done. The ongoing and very unfortunate trend of games launching in an abysmal state (we’re looking at you Redfall and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum) is largely seen as a result of many developers trying to force games out way before they’re ready in an effort to cut development costs since they can’t be monetized as much anymore post-launch due to the increasingly negative perception of the public about live service titles.
Companies can’t just delay games for further polishing either. Postponing games, like what Nintendo and Square Enix did recently, cost a lot of money. Even then, it doesn’t solve the inherent risk of a studio’s reputation tanking immediately as soon as it puts out a bad game or someone goes wrong in development.
As much as the gaming community loves to pin the blame on someone for whenever these situations happen, the fact of the matter is that it’s the people who get laid off that suffer the most.
People losing jobs is never a good thing and we’re hoping more companies start to see the error in their ways sooner than later.
We wish Borba good luck in finding a new family that can let him apply his talents to the fullest.
As for Sony, it’s believed the world’s leading gaming company held back in its May 24 PlayStation Showcase. It’s unclear which games are still going to be announced later this year in a new State of Play or two. But, it’s understood that Sony will stagger its reveals before the year ends, which will likely include an unnamed AAA PC port, the Project Q, the PlayStation 5 earbuds, and the release date of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
