Sony has recently laid off an unspecified number of employees from its Visual Arts studio in San Diego and PS Studios Malaysia, according to reports from Kotaku and statements from former employees on LinkedIn. Affected staff were notified earlier this week that their last day would be March 7. These layoffs included developers who had worked on various projects, including a recently canceled live-service game at Bend Studio.

Visual Arts, known for providing art and technical support, has collaborated with other PlayStation first-party studios on projects like The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 remasters. LinkedIn posts from several developers confirmed their layoffs from Visual Arts, and at least one from PS Studios Malaysia. A former Visual Arts employee mentioned that the layoffs resulted from "multiple project cancellations."

This marks the second round of layoffs at Visual Arts within the past two years, following a similar event in 2023. It remains unclear how many employees are currently at Visual Arts or what projects the studio is focusing on. IGN has sought comments from PlayStation regarding these developments.

These layoffs are part of a broader trend of job cuts and project cancellations in the gaming industry that began in 2023. That year saw over 10,000 game developers laid off, a number that increased to more than 14,000 in 2024. In 2025, the trend persists, though exact figures are harder to come by as fewer studios are disclosing the full extent of the layoffs.