Highlights
- Media Molecule avoids closure during industry layoffs, but uncertainty remains for the future. Hope dwindles.
- Layoffs hit major gaming companies; Media Molecule's future uncertain. The Last of Us devs not safe.
- Dreams studio faced potential closure amid layoffs despite successful games like LittleBigPlanet. Industry lacks stability.
Media Molecule has reportedly avoided closure amid the continuing round of layoffs. In 2023, approximately 9,000 workers in the video game industry were hit by a round of layoffs and some of these workers included employees at Media Molecule. Perhaps the most shocking was the fact that these layoffs had hit the biggest companies, such as Hasbro, EA, Microsoft, and more. It seemed like that was the worst it would get, and many looked to 2024 with hope for the future.
Despite that hope, the industry has been hit even harder this year. In January there were approximately 6,000 layoffs. In February, somewhere around 2,000 workers were laid off, with approximately 900 more layoffs coming from Sony, including Naughty Dog and Insomniac, which is surprising, considering the recent success of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
PlayStation-Owned Studio Accused of Having a 'Toxic Culture'
In the wake of Sony's headline-making layoffs, one of its PlayStation studios has been accused of fostering a toxic workplace.
Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach shares in a newsletter that British developer Media Molecule was positioned right alongside PlayStation's London Studio as most likely for closure during that round of layoffs. Media Molecule helped define the PlayStation brand during the era its games were popular. London Studio, which was closed, held a legacy with PlayStation as developer of Singstar, EyeToy games, and PlayStation Home. The studio similarly helped shape the image of what the PlayStation 3 had to offer to players. Gach reached out to the studios for more information, but has not heard back.
Media Molecule's last release, Dreams, emphasized the interactive nature of the gaming medium itself. Dreams offered a toolkit to create and share games, a reiteration of the formula many players had become fans of with the studio's LittleBigPlanet franchise. Last year, live support for the game was shuttered and the studio was hit with some layoffs. It seemed that the team would still have the chance to move on to the next thing, though. That hope is being put into question with the news that the studio was in consideration for closure, and the knowledge that there could be more layoffs happening in the future.
The Layoffs Indicate Wavering Faith in the Gaming Industry
It seems pertinent to ask when these layoffs will end and when developers will be able to rest easy knowing they won't be next. Naughty Dog is responsible for what some may consider the biggest PlayStation franchise out there right now, especially with the likelihood of a third The Last of Us game, as the franchise continues dominating pop culture. If those developers are still not safe, then audiences may lose the ability to trust that any studio can retain all the people that helped make their games great.
