Media Molecule is the latest PlayStation studio to be hit with layoffs
This follows weeks of layoffs across the industry.
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Things seem to get bleaker by the day for the games industry, as now the UK based Media Molecule has also been hit by layoffs.
As reported by GLHF, sources said that around 20 jobs are being cut at Media Molecule. The studio currently sits at around 135 staff members, but with the impending cuts that will bring it down to 115. The cuts make up about 15% of the overall workforce, but it's unclear which departments have been affected, or why the layoffs are occurring. Staff were apparently informed about the layoffs during an internal meeting today, October 24, though it doesn't seem like those who will be losing their jobs have been informed just yet.
Media Molecule are best known for creating the Little Big Planet games, of which it made the first two games in the series. The games' now iconic Sackboy went on to become a pseudo mascot for the PS3 era of games, and even got a spinoff platformer from Sumo Digital in 2020. Following the ethos established in Little Big Planet, Media Molecule went on to make Dreams, a title wasn't quite a game but more an entire game engine, which even harboured some quite excellent games itself.
Earlier this year, Media Molecule did announce it is working on a brand-new game, though this also came with the news that support for Dreams would be coming to an end September 1, 2023. You're still able to play Dreams luckily, there just won't be any new content updates. While Dreams reviewed generally quite positively, it didn't seem to take off in the way Little Big Planet did, so it's unclear if that is a reason behind the layoffs.
Media Molecule isn't the only PlayStation-owned studio to be hit by layoffs, though; Naughty Dog cut at least 25 contractors earlier this month, and The Last of Us Part 1 assist studio Visual Arts appeared to be affected by layoffs just last week.