Sony is cutting up to 90 jobs from ‘merchandisers’ and retail marketing teams as part of ‘global transformation’ According to a new report by Axios. The layoffs come despite the continued growth of PlayStation thanks to PS5 successSome employees were surprised by this move.
Axios Reports indicate that the layoffs, based in Sony’s North American operations, will take effect this week, which coincides with the end of the company’s fiscal year. The merchandise team included representatives from PlayStation who would interact with physical retail locations. The retail marketing team was also affected, with one source telling Kotaku It has been completely closed.
Sony did not respond to a request for comment.
The layoffs come as the global pandemic enters its third year, and as more and more of the gaming and commerce culture moves online. Sony reported last year that 62% of all PlayStation games sold They are now bought digitally, and for a lot of the pandemic PS5 it’s been sold mostly through online retailers rather than in-store.
But the layoffs also appear to have come somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly, with employees only given two weeks’ notice of the “turnaround,” according to two sources familiar with the announcement.
Axios Reports One affected worker was disappointed that the company didn’t tell the department about the cuts early on and felt Sony could have done more to find people to rotate.
While the PS5 continues to sell out everywhere, lifetime sales are still way behind the PS4 at this point Because of the constant shortage of parts. Sony announced earlier this week that it will combine its PS Plus and PS Now console subscription services into a renamed monthly program. Three different levels Starting in June. The most expensive level may include access to a library from Classic PS1, PS2 and PSP games.