Former Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president Chris Deering firmly believes that the recent layoffs that have plagued the gaming industry for the last few years now are not the result of corporate greed.
On a recent episode of Simon Parkin's podcast, My Perfect Console (via Eurogamer), Deering says that those who have lost their jobs should "drive an Uber" or "go to the beach for a year." While I'm sure it would be easy for someone with a president's salary to just "go to the beach for a year," I cannot imagine that would be very feasible for the rank and file employees that are the main group being laid off from these studios.
I don't think it's fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed. I always tried to minimise the speed with which we added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle and I didn't want to end up having the same problems that Sony did in Electronics.(...)
If the money isn't coming in from the consumers on the last game, it's going to be hard to justify spending the money for the next game.
I think it's probably very painful for the managers, but I don't think that having skill in this area [of game dev] is going to be a lifetime of poverty or limitation. It's still where the action is, and it's like the pandemic but now you're going to have to take a few…figure out how to get through it, drive an Uber or whatever, go off to find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year. But keep up with your news and keep up with it, because once you get off the train, it's much harder.
If the money isn't coming in from the consumers on the last game, it's going to be hard to justify spending the money for the next game.
I think it's probably very painful for the managers, but I don't think that having skill in this area [of game dev] is going to be a lifetime of poverty or limitation. It's still where the action is, and it's like the pandemic but now you're going to have to take a few…figure out how to get through it, drive an Uber or whatever, go off to find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year. But keep up with your news and keep up with it, because once you get off the train, it's much harder.
Right after saying this, Deering stuck his foot in his mouth again.
I presume people were paid some kind of a decent severance package and by the time that runs out…Well, you know, that's life.
In February 2024, Sony laid off 900 employees across their various PlayStation studios. Across the entire industry, over 10,000 layoffs happened in 2023 and an additional 11,500 layoffs happened from January through July of 2024.
I'm sure those 21,500+ people are absolutely thrilled to hear these words from Deering.
And finding a cheap place to live before going to the beach... I mean, why bother finding a place to live when you can live homeless at the beach for a year? Or is this advice only for senior management and executives?