The Last of Us Part 1 assist studio Visual Arts appears to have been hit by layoffs
It's unclear how many have been affected.
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In another hit to the industry, it looks like the PlayStation support studio Visual Arts has also been affected by layoffs.
As spotted by VGC, it appears that a number of developers at PlayStations Visual Arts studio have been laid off. Senior level designer at the developer Daniel Bellemare wrote in a LinkedIn post, " Unfortunately, following a wave of layoffs last week was my last at Playstation. While this is certainly not news I was hoping for, I'm grateful to have had a chance to work amongst extremely talented colleagues on incredible projects and I'm leaving with good memories of my time there."
Alongside Bellemare, senior technical recruiter Matt Barney also shared news of his own layoff on LinkedIn, writing, " Goodbye PlayStation it's been real! For the past few months, I knew this layoff wave was coming. I love PlayStation & I always will… I mean, I stayed when I had the chance to leave, so obviously!" Others, like rigging artist Sean Teo, also announced their time at PlayStation Visual Arts has come to an end, though in Teo's case it was noted as a case of their contract coming to an end. It's unclear if this was due to the contract being ended early or if it's just coincidence. VGC also noted that other developers had shared on social media that their contracts had also ended, but again it's unclear as to whether they're part of any layoffs or not.
You might not have heard of Visual Arts before, but you're likely to be familiar with its work, as the studio was originally the one behind the remake of The Last of Us before it switched to a support role, with Naughty Dog taking over as lead developer. It was also announced last year that Visual Arts, alongside a new internal Sony studio, would be assisting Naughty Dog on a title based on a "beloved franchise," though still no word on what that game is.