Sony Santa Monica Hit With Layoffs

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Intellivision

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According to GAF, 50 people minimum.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/02/25/layoffs-hit-god-of-war-studio-sony-santa-monica

Layoffs Hit God of War Studio Sony Santa Monica
One of the studio's projects has also purportedly been cancelled.
by Colin Moriarty
FEBRUARY 25, 2014

Update: Sony has provided the following statement to IGN, confirming what our sources have told us:

SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted.

Sony Santa Monica has released five games in its history -- Kinetica, God of War, God of War II, God of War III, and God of War: Ascension -- although it also has a significant presence in Sony's second party development ecosystem. Thatgamecompany (Flow, Flower, Journey), Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan), and Fun Bits (Fat Princess, Escape Plan) are just a few of the developers that got their start working alongside Sony Santa Monica.

More recently, SuperBot created PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale with the help of Sony Santa Monica, and games like Hohokum are currently under development with the help of Santa Monica-based producers.

However, all has not been well at Sony Santa Monica, specifically when it comes to God of War: Ascension. The God of War trilogy that came before it sold prolifically, but word was that God of War: Ascension underperformed "significantly" when it launched early in 2013. The studio moved on to something else after finishing its DLC support for the game, though that didn't stop long-time Sony Santa Monica employee and director of Ascension, Todd Papy, from leaving the studio.

Strangely, Sony Santa Monica recently moved offices while noting that it was hiring and expanding its workforce. The most notable recent addition to the staff was none other than Cory Balrog, co-creator of God of War, who returned to the studio after a six year absence.

The original story is below.

Reliable sources have confirmed to IGN that there were layoffs at Sony Santa Monica Studio today. The Sony-owned, exclusive developer – founded in 1999 – is best known for its God of War games.

The extent of the damage remains unclear, though there are indications that one of the projects the studio was working on has been cancelled alongside this round of layoffs.

We’ve reached out to Sony and will update when we hear back. In the meantime, our very best goes out to those affected by this unfortunate news.
 
From GAF....

Looks like Adam Puhl (lead combat designer on GoW I, II & III) is part of the layoffs. Edited his bio. Was involved with Stig's project.

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Don't wish losing a job on anyone, but layoffs in the gaming industry are nothing new. After the last GoW, they needed to make some changes.
 
Obscene Jester said:
Don't wish losing a job on anyone, but layoffs in the gaming industry are nothing new. After the last GoW, they needed to make some changes.
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Sony will continue GoW. But I think they'll reinvent it with a new setting and character set. They should have stopped after GoW 3.
 
Interesting enough I started playing gow saga recently and I freaking love gow now after missing out on it the first time when it was on ps2. I've played them all now, but don't have ascension as I'm waiting for a price drop in the $10-$20 range. However, after playing 3 and the epicness of it and its conclusion, I guess I can see how ascension would under perform. A prequel just won't resonate the same after I've been following kratos through 3 ps2/ps3 and 2 psp games. I guess it's at the point where there's nothing left to tell of kratos story and people didn't want another prequel. Gow is one of my favourite franchises ever now though after playing through 5 games of it in a row the past couple of months. However, even I can admit I'm not that pumped to play a prequel ascension, hence waiting for a price drop.
 
GoW can go on and even become a great franchise again if taken in the right direction. I don't think the game needs to involve Kratos however, perhaps his story is best left complete. Regardless, personally I'd rather see them working on a new ip.
 
Ouch. GoW3 was awesome IMO, hopefully these guys land on their feet.
 
Wasnt there this developer not too long ago who actually worked for SM studio and went with Crytek? Maybe this was something on the way a while ago...

IN OTHER NEWS....

Sorry hear about devs losing their jobs. Taking care of family is important. Im sure they'll be employed in no time though. Best wishes to all of them.:)
 
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In other news the develops of last Guardian is still around, despite not releasing anything for about a decades. Does Japanese Internal studios get special treatments?
 
Mcmasters said:
Wasnt there this developer not too long ago who actually worked for SM studio and went with Crytek? Maybe this was something on the way a while ago...

IN OTHER NEWS....

Sorry hear about devs losing their jobs. Taking care of family is important. Im sure they'll be employed in no time though. Best wishes to all of them.:)
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In a limited industry, getting reemploy often means moving to a new city, that's the hard part, especially for people with kids.
 
Mcmasters said:
Follow the money. Easy choice. Some enjoy experiencing new places and adventures.
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Never moved to a new city with kids have you? Its hard for the kids, new school, new friends, losing old friends, catching up with the other students in classes.
 
starseeker said:
In other news the develops of last Guardian is still around, despite not releasing anything for about a decades. Does Japanese Internal studios get special treatments?
Click to expand...

Is it wishful thinking to hope for some Last Guardian details from this year's E3?
 
Mcmasters said:
Actually, I have yes.
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Then you should know its not easy, especially if you already have a house that you put many effort in. Maybe its ok for you, & your family, but its not easy for many people. Just saying.
 
Sony probably invested into RAD after they made the 2nd best GOW game in ghosts.
 
starseeker said:
Then you should know its not easy, especially if you already have a house that you put many effort in. Maybe its ok for you, & your family, but its not easy for many people. Just saying.
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I dont mean to be insensitive about the situation, but you asked if I'd ever been there so I answered. Respect mate.
 
Mcmasters said:
I dont mean to be insensitive about the situation, but you asked if I'd ever been there so I answered. Respect mate.
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OK. Cool. no problem

It just me agitated me a little, people who have no idea, sound so casual, like its not a big deal, & people can find another job soon, with their talent. What they did not realise is Game industry, isn't found in every town, especially related game type (if you are a 3D animator, you wouldn't find a job that do mobile fappy bird type game right?), & often, people have to move to far away city & even country.

Also moving to a new city, let a lone a new country is not easy for many people for various reason, some of which I have mention.

Cliffy B have in the past been very vocal about the situation in the industry, where studio have to close & people have to look for a new job, other in new far away city & god know last how long. There are certainly some things in this industry that need to be improved. Even if people do not care about people who work in the industry, it will eventually affect us gamers, as less studio are willing to make AAA titles, due to huge risk.
 
Interesting stuff. 50 isn't confirmed yet. I assume that Stig's game wasn't cancelled as that would be stupid because that has been in development for a while and should hopefully be shown at E3. Barlog is probably saved too. I'd imagine this is some of the GOW: A team. I'm intrigued to see if this is just a reshuffling and they hire people who are more accustomed to the projects they want.Could also be the people who help port games to PS4 and with PS4 being easier they're not required. I also think RAD will be purchased soon by Sony. Let's see what transpires from this.
 
starseeker said:
In other news the develops of last Guardian is still around, despite not releasing anything for about a decades. Does Japanese Internal studios get special treatments?
Click to expand...

The secret is to never finish your game.
 
Seems like Stig's I.P was cancelled. Goddamn always sucks when new I.P is cancelled especially as it was meant to be a Sci-Fi game.
 
Mcmasters said:
Taking care of family is important. Im sure they'll be employed in no time though. Best wishes to all of them.:)
Click to expand...

Seems they might be taken care of.

Following news of lay-offs at Sony Santa Monica, Microsoft is wasting no time in diving in to scoop up some of the talent. The developer behind many PlayStation exclusive games, including the God of War series, has let an “undisclosed number” of staff go, claiming that it “is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio”.

Sony confirmed the lay-offs in a statement:

“SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted.”

Only a few hours after the announcement, Vice President of Microsoft Phil Spencer took to Twitter to confirm that he has already approached some of those developers with view to recruiting them for Xbox 360 and Xbox One projects.

@GGhalid Like the #helpDEVS tag. Keep that one going. We've reached out and are engaged in hiring.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 26, 2014
While it’s good to see that talented developers may not go to waste, it’s obviously a concern that Sony Santa Monica feels it necessary to lay-off team members, especially when we’ve only just hit the start of the PlayStation generation.
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Oh well. That sucks but layoffs are bound to happen at any company. Hopefully they find another job in the business. Sony Santa Monica is about to do work with the PS4. I can't even imagine how amazing the next God of War is going to be. Seems like yesterday i was just waiting for God of War 3 on the PS3 and it didn't disappoint one bit. History repeats itself here.
 
I only beat gow 3 last week and it was f***ing amazing! The graphics still look amazing on it for being an old last gen game now! :p
 
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