Former Sony executive Chris Deering advised the laid-off staff to take a break

The company announced in February that it would lay off around 900 people globally and close PlayStation Studios’ London studio amid a slowing gaming market. Deering rejected the idea that the layoffs were driven solely by corporate motives.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say the resulting layoffs were greed,” Deering said on journalist Simon Parkin’s “My Perfect Console” podcast. “I always tried to minimize the rate at which I added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle.”

Fluctuations in consumer spending and declining recent game sales are impacting the company’s ability to “justify spending money on the next game,” making some layoffs inevitable, Deering said.

Deering offered some unconventional advice for game developers affected by the layoffs. He suggested workers take time off or find a temporary job, such as driving for Uber, while the industry stabilizes.

“It’s like the pandemic,” Deering told Parkin. “You’re going to have to figure out how to get around this, drive an Uber or whatever. Find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year.”

His remarks come at a time when layoffs have hit the gaming industry hard.

Other game developers, including Microsoft and Unity, have similarly scaled back their studios this year, downsizing over 3,000 jobs at the beginning of the year, BI reported in February.

This spate of layoffs in the gaming industry resulted from declining game sales and a declining gaming demographic, BI previously reported. Revenue from video game sales in the US in 2023 fell 2.3% from the previous year, and average time spent playing games fell from 16.5 hours to 13 hours from 2021 to 2022.

Still, Deering seemed optimistic about the outlook for game developers. He told Parkin that laid-off workers should take the time off to recharge, but be on the lookout for any opportunities to get back into the industry.

Game development skill will not be “a lifetime of poverty or limitation. It’s still where the action is,” Deering said.

Deering is currently an advisor to Cudo Ventures, a company specializing in monetization apps.

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Deering did not respond to an after-hours request for comment from BI.