Layoffs in the gaming industry aren’t the result of corporate greed and those affected should ‘drive an Uber,’ says former Sony president

Chris Deering, former president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, does not believe that recent layoffs in the games industry are the result of corporate greed. Instead, workers who have lost their jobs should “drive an Uber” or “go to the beach for a year” until employment is sorted out.

Deering was a guest on games journalist Simon Parkin’s My Perfect Console podcast, where the duo discussed layoffs in the games industry.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say that the layoffs that resulted from this were greed,” Deering said. “I always tried to minimize the rate at which we hired because I always knew there was going to be a cycle and I didn’t want to have the same problems that Sony had at Electronics.”

Deering acknowledged that there have been recent layoffs at Sony, including the London Studio, but noted that “if consumers aren’t going to pony up the money for the last game, it’s going to be hard to justify spending that money on the next game.”

He continued: “I think it’s probably very painful for the managers, but I don’t think having skills in this area (of game development) is going to be a life of poverty or limitations. It’s still where the action is, and it’s like the pandemic, but now you have to figure out some… how to get through it, drive an Uber or something, find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year. But stay on top of the news and stay informed, because once you get off the train, it’s much harder.”

That said, Deering is “optimistic” about the future for workers who have been laid off. “These things sometimes bounce back a lot quicker than you would think, when things are very tenuous,” he said. “I assume people have some sort of decent severance package and by the time that runs out … well, you know, that’s life.”

Deering entered the games industry as vice president of international marketing for Atari, before eventually moving to Sony via Columbia Pictures. He was president of SCEE from 1995 to 2005, during which time the company launched the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles.

In February, Sony laid off 900 PlayStation employees (about eight percent of its total workforce). This involved closing London Studio and cutting back on the Firesprite studio.

This was one of many other rounds of layoffs in the industry. In May 2024 of this year, more than 10,000 people had been laid off in the games industry. Now that number has risen to more than 11,500.

Recently, Embracer-owned studio Lost Boys was hit with layoffs.

Why are these layoffs happening? Chris Dring of GamesIndustry.biz explains.