"That's life": Former Sony top manager advised laid-off developers to work as taxi drivers for a while or relax on the beach
Over the last year and a half, gaming companies worldwide have been laying off employees en masse. Former PlayStation Europe President Chris Deering believes this is a natural phenomenon.
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Deering shared his opinion during the My Perfect Console podcast. He stated that it is unfair to blame corporate greed for the current layoff crisis. According to him, this situation in the industry is not happening for the first time. As Deering recalls, during his tenure at Sony, he always tried to slow down the hiring of new employees because he was aware of an impending "new cycle."
Deering asserted that specialists who lost their jobs need to accept the situation and wait for things to stabilize.
"I don’t think having skills in game development will lead to a lifetime of poverty or limitation. Events are still unfolding here, something akin to a pandemic. So you need to figure out how to get through it. Get a job as an Uber driver or somewhere else, find cheap housing, spend a year on a beach. But stay informed and don’t fall behind because once you step off the train, everything becomes much harder. […] I assume people received some decent severance pay, and by the time it runs out... well, you know, that’s life," Deering said.
According to Game Industry Layoffs, over 10,500 employees were laid off from gaming companies in 2023, and another 11,900 have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2024.