PlayStation Studios Faces Challenges: Insights on Layoffs and PS5 Pro Development from Co-Heads

While we’ve seen some great games released this year and the year before, it’s hard to say we’re in for a great day for gaming, and that’s largely due to how difficult it’s for people to keep their jobs in this business. Redundancies are becoming increasingly common, from development to media. Even major studios like PlayStation are not immune to layoffs, and Hermen Hulst, co-head of PlayStation Studios, was recently asked about layoffs and how they affect the outlook for PlayStation.

In conversation with Different (before Firewalk Studio was shut down, so don’t expect comments on that), Hulst had the following to say:

“It’s our responsibility to look at our resource planning, and make sure we’re running a sustainable business. That’s part of being a CEO. We never take that lightly, because we know on those people personally, and it depends a lot on our heart. , and it’s the teams and the good work environment, but yes, we’ve got some work,” he said. “But it’s also important to note that PlayStation Studios is now a much bigger organization than when it started. It’s grown a lot. So the organization and the number of people much more work than, for example, five years ago.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Hideaki Nishino, the other co-head of PlayStation Studios, reveals that the PS5 Pro has been in development since before the launch of the PS5. “We started working on the PS5 Pro even before the PS5 launched – it was another five-year project for us. So there was a conversation about whether we wanted to make a new Pro or not . But the most important thing was that there were technologies that we can develop in three or five years. So innovation and technological development are faster in today’s world.”