The world economy is pissed off at the moment. It’s affecting Europe, US and Asia and the game industry that is located in these areas. To bring up some examples where things are rough, the employees at Rogue Squadron series developer Factor 5 apparently didn’t get any pay last month, Saints Row 2 developer THQ were forced to lay off 250 staff due to bad sales and last but not least, almighty EA are reducing their workforce with 600 people. The economy now delivered its heaviest nut shot to Sony, who say they’re going to cut 8000 jobs by April 2010.
A big part of Sony’s production is located in Japan, which has been seeing a much greater economic downfall (1.4 per cent) than expected the last quarter. Apart from reducing their staff with 5 per cent, they will also cut manufacturing investment by 30 per cent in an attempt to save 1.1 billion USD.
Sony’s electronics business has taken the largest hit and the company have already laid out a plan of actions that need to be taken. “The company has already undertaken certain short-term measures, including adjusting production, lowering inventory levels, and reducing operational expenses,” read a statement.
“Going forward, Sony intends to adjust product pricing to mitigate the impact of the appreciation of the yen, curtail or delay part of its investment plans, and downsize or withdraw from unprofitable or non-core businesses.”
At first it was unsure whether or not the PlayStation business would be affected by the downsizing, but Sony Computer Entertainment later confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that they indeed will be involved in the company restructuring. Considering the fact that some experts expect this recession to last for up to four years, we have a feeling news like these will increase rather than decrease.
