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Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

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Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#71

Post by majikaja »

fooqux wrote: post #8
dtx1 wrote: post #3

It's not the worst "y'all are fired mail" we've seen in recent times but notice how the first two paragraphs, the most dense and buzzword ridden parts of the letter, do not include a concrete reason why they are reducing their workforce. After that part it becomes very precise and readable.

> do not include a concrete reason why they are reducing their workforce They're always one of two things: 1) the company is failing and we need to do this to stay afloat; or 2) the board thinks we can make more money by doing a round of layoffs and have determined that the negative repercussions of this are worth that money. I wasn't able to easily find revenue numbers on SIE, just on Sony as a whole, but it seems p…

They might not have been hired in the first place if they expected jobs for life

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#72

Post by coldpie »

xp84 wrote: post #49
Spivak wrote: post #5

It must be fun to be paid millions to write boilerplate "our incredible journey" garbage and pretend it's serious. They just announced 7% growth sales forecast prior to the layoffs, they aren't a struggling company that needs to buy more runaway. God I just wish one executive had the balls to say, "yeah we're culling 8% of our staff largely randomly because we estimated our dead weight is greater than that." It would…

It doesn’t seem like you’ve gotten to know anybody who’s implemented a RIF. I have and every manager involved right up to the CEO fucking hates the whole thing. It makes you sick to your stomach, and they realize that no matter how much they hate doing it, many of those affected will still think they’re callous jerks for it. It’s just business.

> I have and every manager involved right up to the CEO fucking hates the whole thing. It makes you sick to your stomach

Poor baby. I wonder if he can find something to do with his $4.3M annual compensation to console himself. https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/consumer-durables/nyse-sony/...

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#73

Post by diggan »

this_user wrote: post #14
neocritter wrote: post #4

Is this one of those "we're doing great, you're fired" situations, or is there a real market reason? The PS5 seems to be selling well.

They only recently announced that the PS5 is rapidly reaching its EOL. It is seemingly not selling well at all. The early issues with supply and the lack of actually interesting games that are not just remakes has clearly not helped.

> It is seemingly not selling well at all.

Yeah, it's only the 15th best selling console after all :/

Sounds like something else might be wrong if you can sell +50 million units and still not consider it "selling well" or making a profit.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#74

Post by blululu »

op00to wrote: post #57
dirtybirdnj wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not the action it's the lack of accountability for the action none of the people swinging the axe face any pain for their bad decisions. people under them working as hard as they could face the consequences of decisions made above their head and out of their control. no contrition, no sincerity, no humanity. the C level has failed us and we keep celebrating their narcissism and psychopathy. we cannot keep celebr…

> none of the people swinging the axe face any pain for their bad decisions You think there is not one manager involved in layoffs that faced personal grief over firing people?

I think Zoom was the one company that paired layoffs with reductions in executive compensation. Beyond that one example all of those executives faced $0 worth of personal grief over their actions.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#75

Post by kotaKat »

this_user wrote: post #14
neocritter wrote: post #4

Is this one of those "we're doing great, you're fired" situations, or is there a real market reason? The PS5 seems to be selling well.

They only recently announced that the PS5 is rapidly reaching its EOL. It is seemingly not selling well at all. The early issues with supply and the lack of actually interesting games that are not just remakes has clearly not helped.

> lack of actually interesting games

I mean, it'd be great if Sony would get on board with allowing smaller devs to join the Playstation platform but the amount of literal gatekeeping that Sony keeps in the stable is disgusting to watch.

Hell, I'd love to be able to dev myself for it but nope! Sony gatekeeps me from running my own code on my own metal.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#76

Post by dirtybirdnj »

FpUser wrote: post #59
Spivak wrote: post #5

It must be fun to be paid millions to write boilerplate "our incredible journey" garbage and pretend it's serious. They just announced 7% growth sales forecast prior to the layoffs, they aren't a struggling company that needs to buy more runaway. God I just wish one executive had the balls to say, "yeah we're culling 8% of our staff largely randomly because we estimated our dead weight is greater than that." It would…

>"God I just wish one executive had the balls to say, "yeah we're culling 8% of our staff largely randomly because we estimated our dead weight is greater than that." It would at least treat employees as adults that can have adult conversations and take bad news." Employees could see things for what those are. Spelling it out will not make any difference for them. For executive statement like this could be reason to…

> Spelling it out will not make any difference for them. For executive statement like this could be reason to join that terminated crowd.

So because "it already happened" we should just "get over it and stop making a big deal?"

Unless the executive is stepping down and taking responsibility for the employees losing their jobs, it's empty platitudes.

The C-level folks that made these mistakes will do it again. And more people will suffer... will lose their jobs... and be offered thoughts and prayers.

This is not adult behavior. It's schoolyard children bully bullshit. Trying to paper over it because money is involved is just a deflection of responsibility.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#77

Post by dirtybirdnj »

op00to wrote: post #57
dirtybirdnj wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not the action it's the lack of accountability for the action none of the people swinging the axe face any pain for their bad decisions. people under them working as hard as they could face the consequences of decisions made above their head and out of their control. no contrition, no sincerity, no humanity. the C level has failed us and we keep celebrating their narcissism and psychopathy. we cannot keep celebr…

> none of the people swinging the axe face any pain for their bad decisions You think there is not one manager involved in layoffs that faced personal grief over firing people?

> You think there is not one manager involved in layoffs that faced personal grief over firing people?

I am 100% confident that the people who feel "personal grief" over this are extremely well compensated. They have a secure housing situation where they are not afraid of "where will I sleep, where will my next meal come from?"

Trivializing the damage these people are inflicting on others for no reason other than "the board wants more money" is disrespectful at best. it's morally reprehensible to anybody with a functioning conscience who understands ethics.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#78

Post by erinnh »

jonhohle wrote: post #48
this_user wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They only recently announced that the PS5 is rapidly reaching its EOL. It is seemingly not selling well at all. The early issues with supply and the lack of actually interesting games that are not just remakes has clearly not helped.

Despite a slow start it’s currently selling at a rate that would allow it to catch the PS4 which is the 5ᵀᴴ most sold console ever. I’m not sure what the guidance was, but even if they were off 4% this last quarter that still puts the PS4 ahead of the Wii by the end of its life. I doubt a company would ever announce a console is EOL befor their next one is on the shelves. Are you sure that wasn’t about the PS4?

They announced that it is reaching „the latter stage“ of its life. Not that it has reached EOL.

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#79

Post by pdimitar »

prmoustache wrote: post #51
slothtrop wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They recently announced that PS5 is entering it's twilight phase. Sold better than series X but apparently not well enough. We're still getting new games released for both ps4 and ps5, and the value added on the latter appears marginal.

I only own a switch but if I had to buy a console right now I would buy a second hand ps4 over a ps5 and max out its internal storage. Much cheaper and huge list of games, many available for very cheap on the second hand market.

Can't the PS5 run any PS4 game?

Re: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off 900 people

#80

Post by bitwize »

Etheryte wrote: post #34

As an aside, I want to take a moment and really appreciate the fact that in the age of bland and boring corporate redesigns, Sony Interactive Entertainment has kept the same gradient square as their logo since 1993. They've updated the typography, but the retro square has persevered.

That square is an image you can hear.
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