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Sony slashing 16,000 jobs

  • By Mark Walton, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot UK
  • Posted Dec 9, 2008 5:06 am PT

[UPDATE] PlayStation maker cutting 8,000 full-time positions--4 percent of its salaried workforce--and at least 8,000 temporary positions; Pennsylvania TV plant reportedly being shuttered.

Days after Microsoft declared the Xbox 360 outsold the PlayStation 3 three-to-one during "Black Friday" sales in the United States, Sony has announced cutbacks. The Tokyo-based electronics giant will slash 8,000 jobs and close several of its manufacturing facilities in a bid to save $1.1 billion (£745 million) by the end of next financial year. The job losses will come out of core Sony electronics divisions, though no official breakdown has been revealed.

As well as job cuts, Sony is also looking to reduce investment by 30 percent in electronics operations by withdrawing from unprofitable and non-core businesses. The electronics giant also confirmed it was to close around 10 percent of its 57 manufacturing sites, with all restructuring said to be completed by March 31, 2010. It will also raise the pricing of some of its products to alleviate the impact of the stronger yen.

The cuts follow on from more bad news from Asian electronics rival Samsung, which hours before Sony's announcement said it was to cut its sales targets and spending, after lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues and a drop in expected demand for 2009.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe did not comment on whether the cutbacks would affect the price of the PlayStation 3, which remains the most expensive--and technologically advanced--console on the market. When queried by GameSpot, a SCEE rep said only, "We will always carefully review and make structural changes, if necessary, in order to further expand and strengthen the PlayStation business around the world."

The Sony announcement reflects recent bad news in the games industry, which has been shaken by EA's $310 million quarterly loss and dismissal of 600 employees, and Eidos, which lost a quarter of its workforce in February this year (when still known as SCi Entertainment). Midway Games has also been hit hard, with a controlling interest in the firm being recently sold for a mere $100,000 to a private investor. Last week, the once-mighty Mortal Kombat publisher revealed $240 million in debt, $150 million of which it may have to repay in as little as 50 days.

[UPDATE] The Associated Press is now reporting that Sony will eliminate at least 8,000 "temporary positions" by 2010, bringing the total cuts to 16,000. The news service also quoted Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell as saying that one of the facilities slated for closure is in his state in the Northeastern US. According to local publication the Triangle Business Journal, the Westmoreland County facility, which manufactured flat-screen televisions, employed 560 people.

519 Comments

  • SolidTy

    Posted Dec 22, 2010 2:22 pm GMT


    The PS3 is currently 2.9 million units away from the 360. Pretty impressive.

  • TheArcade

    Posted Jan 21, 2009 11:16 pm GMT

    THIS SUCKS! People are seriously going to be out of a job.

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 1:03 pm GMT

    playstation has always made money, this will eventually

  • cheerios3d

    Posted Jan 5, 2009 8:16 pm GMT

    Sorry to the 16,0000 who will lose their jobs. Just hope that dosent mean they will start charging for the psn.

  • jhvan

    Posted Jan 4, 2009 9:49 am GMT

    "This pretty much concludes that there will be no PS4 until the recession is over and SONY starts profiting again. Thats what happens when a country spends all of its money on mindless military projects and operations."

    I'm just curious what military projects and operations Japan has been spending their money on seeing how Sony is a Japanese company.

  • shazam_lp

    Posted Jan 3, 2009 10:51 pm GMT

    This pretty much concludes that there will be no PS4 until the recession is over and SONY starts profiting again. Thats what happens when a country spends all of its money on mindless military projects and operations.

  • tommcruise

    Posted Jan 1, 2009 10:34 am GMT

    Lets see if gamespot posts the rumored 10 percent job cut for M$ in 09....

  • mariomusicmaker

    Posted Dec 21, 2008 10:54 pm GMT

    joevit, why do i not believe you about the whole amd thing... why would they do that, that makes no sense at all atleast for the next few years.

  • joevit

    Posted Dec 15, 2008 10:42 am GMT

    @aaronobst. Nope. I just work in the bizz. I work with chip makers. I map CPU's, GPU's and a few other things. I have friends that are dev's as well and no I will not name the studio's or the people I am friends with. I dont work for any one, I work for my self. I also find it fun to read the crap on gamespot and read what you kids say. Why is it funny. Becouse no one knows what they are talking about. This stupid thing about PS3 vs 360 is just stupid. The 360 is a all around better system if you can under stand how a system works. PS3 is cool but they should have used a better video card. Even with the power that the PS3 and 360 has, the wii still out sells them. No one cares about video play back or power. I know most of you on gamesspot do, thats why you are here. Poll's have shown time and time that people care more about games, not Blu-Ray or the motor in the system. If it was true, the wii would have done bad. Hard core gamers are not the big pic any more. Hard core gamers are a thing of the past.

  • aaronobst

    Posted Dec 15, 2008 1:56 am GMT

    AAAND how do you know all this? do you work for Sony?

  • joevit

    Posted Dec 14, 2008 9:41 pm GMT

    Here is some inside news that you might not here about for a few weeks. 1. The next PS3 SKU will come down. Why? Sony has drop the cell CPU and is will now use the same CPU as the 360 but with 4 cores and not 3. Why? The cell CPU is still way to much and its the frist gen cell CPu made by IBM. It's 10 years old. Yes its true. 10 years ago IBM made the frist cell CPU. the same one thats in the PS3. The new SKU will be.... Ready.... 199. and in 4 weeks they start work on the PS4. No it will not play PS1 games, and no it will not play PS2 games Sorry. I did say a over a week before gamespot ran the story about the lay off's at sony... I told you guys that was going to happen. I was right, but Sony will now lay off even more. and cut out a low end of TVs that dont sell. Sony will also stop making PS2's and it looks like only a few more new games will come out for it. This is the last year for the PS2. Sony will also cut the tag on even more games so people will look to by the system. MS will also cut the tag on the 120gig SKU. By fall of 09 the 360 will be $150 and start talks of the next Xbox. By 20010 they will say, hay we got a new system coming out!!! That is why Sony is going to start the work on the PS4. They dont want MS to have a year start over them. Well thats all for now.... On.... just one more thing. AMD is going to try and 1 up Intel and come out with a 10 core CPU. Now thats all.

  • baddog50

    Posted Dec 13, 2008 6:54 am GMT

    Personally I've always thought the PS3 was way to over priced for a gaming console so this announcement really doesn't come as a major surprise. If Sony had pitched their PS3 at a more reasonalble price when they first launched it they may not have ended up in the position they now find themselves in! As always it's the poor workers I feel sorry for as they now face a bleak future and a lousy Christmas for those who celebrate it.

  • vboydjr

    Posted Dec 12, 2008 12:13 pm GMT

    This is what big companies do. It doesn't mean the end of PS or anything like that but the economy isn't helping them make money on their other products. Yes Sony makes other things besides PS.

  • thug9cole

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 9:22 pm GMT

    nooo!!

  • RPG_Fan_I_Am

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 10:05 am GMT

    @ YoJim8obaJoe also alots happened in the past 38 years since betamax was made. If history was due to repeat itself sony would have lost the blue-ray war. And we would all be buying HD players so obviously sony has learned something, all I was saying is that when you get ontop your perspective of everything changes, and when your on bottom you know what your doing to sell more product. Its also harder for top companies to change the way they do things because it cost's money, money loss is bad so Generally the board of executives decides that its bad to change and they don't figure the fact that they could lose more money buy not changing.

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 8:43 am GMT

    So you can basically kiss PS4 goodbye.

  • rjsolo

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 4:55 am GMT

    yojim8o is spot on no pun intended
    haha
    M$ wants ur soul and your money
    and your mind apparently too

  • sgt-hawkins

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 4:03 am GMT

    your right jknight cant be focused but that was not the point i was trying to make i was trying to say if 16000 people lose their job you should feel sorry for those people and take time to think about them and if you know any help them its just a few days till christmas and some people have no job some children will get no christmas gifts i think we need to stop being focused, your right, we need to stop focusing on ourselves and start trying to help others.

  • YoJim8obaJoe

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:56 pm GMT

    So i guess you forgetting Betamax RPG_Fan_I_Am

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 7:14 am GMT

    my first post was deleted so I corrected my post and made it appropriate the PS3 is failing because sony isn't used to failing. everything sony made went big with in 0-2 years weather it be playstations or tv's and generally the things that sony did fail at they had enough money to blow off cause they had something to back themselves up with. being cheaper only works because people are buying 360's, but there doing it cause there arn't many ps3 exclusives. but with a 360 what do you get. everything the ps3 is except 3 difference's. one the ps3 is a blue ray player, 2 you can play music on your xbox while playing games. 3 the PS3 is has motion controls almost exactly the same the the wii, but no one knows this. and people don't think about buying a ps3 for its blue ray player. as far as online goes x-box has been online for years, the ps2 wasn't built to be played online when sony first made it, infact online capabilities wasn't even realised till sega made the dreamcast with a built in modem. so its expected that sony will be behind on the online bizz. also many people don't realize that the ps3

    as a correction to someones post. Gamespot favors the xbox 360 over the ps3. I play all 3 systems and I've been a nintendo fan since I was 4. I played need for speed carbon on all systems, I think its most fun on the wii cause you can use the wiimote as a gas peddle and steer with the stick on the nunchuke, it got the same review for both 360 and PS3 yet the 360 gets a .2 higher rating... hows that work out? I've played other games on both the ps3 and the 360 and the ps3 never seems to have as bad of graphics as gamespot gives it, I can adjust my tv screen and both systems will look exactly the same, generally I have to adjust the contrast and the brightness cause the ps3 tends to be slightly darker.

  • frmld

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:26 pm GMT

    very well aurus, i understand. i was never going against your point of view in the first place u justs flipped on me because u thought i said that i would love to have MS have job loses anyway it is over know. on to the next piece of news

  • RPG_Fan_I_Am

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:14 pm GMT

    my first post was deleted so I corrected my post and made it appropriate the PS3 is failing because sony isn't used to failing. everything sony made went big with in 0-2 years weather it be playstations or tv's and generally the things that sony did fail at they had enough money to blow off cause they had something to back themselves up with. being cheaper only works because people are buying 360's, but there doing it cause there arn't many ps3 exclusives. but with a 360 what do you get. everything the ps3 is except 3 difference's. one the ps3 is a blue ray player, 2 you can play music on your xbox while playing games. 3 the PS3 is has motion controls almost exactly the same the the wii, but no one knows this. and people don't think about buying a ps3 for its blue ray player. as far as online goes x-box has been online for years, the ps2 wasn't built to be played online when sony first made it, infact online capabilities wasn't even realised till sega made the dreamcast with a built in modem. so its expected that sony will be behind on the online bizz. also many people don't realize that the ps3

    as a correction to someones post. Gamespot favors the xbox 360 over the ps3. I play all 3 systems and I've been a nintendo fan since I was 4. I played need for speed carbon on all systems, I think its most fun on the wii cause you can use the wiimote as a gas peddle and steer with the stick on the nunchuke, it got the same review for both 360 and PS3 yet the 360 gets a .2 higher rating... hows that work out? I've played other games on both the ps3 and the 360 and the ps3 never seems to have as bad of graphics as gamespot gives it, I can adjust my tv screen and both systems will look exactly the same, generally I have to adjust the contrast and the brightness cause the ps3 tends to be slightly darker.

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 7:10 pm GMT

    Wow Im not sure whats more shocking that sony is suffering in the economy or that people leaving comments arent reading past the headline. It says a TV manufacturing plant belonging to sony is closing and that it is unknown if there will be any changes to the PS3. Nothing suggest Sonys PS3 branch or software department are to blame.

  • Crazylightsaber

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 5:09 pm GMT

    Ouch. Damn this sucks @$$.

  • Darkman2007

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 4:37 pm GMT

    this is bad, real bad. if companies keep going into debt they could collapse, which means less games and a chance for a sort of domino effect with only a few mega developers surviving.

    lets hope my doom and gloom prediction is not true

    also condolences to anyone who has lost their job as a result of this whole mess.
    and no i dont wish for any game publisher or console maker to close down or stop support cause then the industry becomes ruled by monopolies. wanna pay 1000$ for an Xbox 360. you will if microsoft become a monopoly....

  • XanderZane

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 4:23 pm GMT

    Sad news for Sony. Let's see if they start charging people for PSN now? lol!!
    I haven't heard M$ or Nintendo cutting any jobs yet, but that may happen next. I'm just happy I still have a job right now. Hopefully we can get through this mess in the next couple of years. ****************************************************************
    @Autolycus
    IM still confused on why the American people, as lazy as they are, haven't stormed the whitehouse and taken it over...
    *************************************************************
    No need to now, Obama will get the country back in the right direction. If any America had tried to storm the White House they would be shot on the spot. Considering that the White House and everyone in it is suppose to be "For the People, By the People", it's completely stupid that no U.S. citizen can visit the White House anytime they want to. The U.S. government is suppose to be protecting us, not protecting themselves from us. "People should be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people."

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 4:06 pm GMT

    As much as I dislike Sony's products, as well as their arrogance, seeing this kinda report is frightening. If less of you were spoilt brat kids, you'd understand this is very serious and the whole world is plunging into a very very bleak 2009.

  • AurusRegulus

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 3:38 pm GMT

    @frmld

    I'm not playing Mr. Right. I just believe in capitalism, which, incidentally, is the reason why you currently have three consoles to choose from to satisfy your gaming desires. It's also the reason why the 3DO and other consoles failed. Note that I'm not saying that the PS3 is going to fail or that I hate Sony--The PS3 is an extremely powerful system with solid exclusives and great future potential, while Sony has consistently put out competent products. But when a company wastes/mismanages money, this is what happens. I'm pretty sure it sucks a lot more for the newly unemployed than the company itself.

  • gellis1981

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 3:21 pm GMT

    to daman1616....wifi for online gaming sux...seriously laggy!

  • Thewbacca

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 2:21 pm GMT

    Damnit, why are we forced to wait until January 26th before the U.S. president can actually fix these problems? Why must we be forced to endure this thing now? Please, just give us our bike.

  • boba_fett22

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:55 pm GMT

    warning: PS3 fan-boy dribble...

    Sony is the not the only casualties, the whole world is in recession this kind of news is happening everywhere... PS3 is still strong. It would be great to have a price cut though, for all those non-believers.

  • Homerj

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:49 pm GMT

    I've said it before and I'll say it again....these announced problems have little or no connection to the games division...its the TV production thats getting hammered. Sony is just not stacking up well in that department against LG and Samsung, which are both offering products that are both lower priced and better in picture quality. The PS3 has been running a distant 3rd for a while now...thats not whats putting pressure on their finances right now.

  • enoslives7

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:41 pm GMT

    time to slash the PS3 to 299.00 or fall too far behind in the race

  • ChuckNorris82

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:31 pm GMT

    Alphamale001 I'm right there with ya

  • ChuckNorris82

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:24 pm GMT

    This is not good. If one company starts then the others will follow for sure. Its only a matter of time befor Nintendo and M$ do the same if the economy doesn't turn around. I agree with smbius, this can hurt the game industry overall.

  • thatmy

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:15 pm GMT

    FUNNY, yeah? Sony CEO and their DOGs management never get FIRED for making big loses to the corporation. haha...that's the power of your DOG 3. Pity to those just work for a living always the scapegoats of a DOG CEO and their DOGGIES!

  • mer1384

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:14 pm GMT

    where are the golden years of PS1&PS2!

  • mer1384

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:12 pm GMT

    sony is destroying every things!

  • smbius

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:04 pm GMT

    This is really too bad. Jobs lost from any company is never good...even for its rival companies.

  • 0678

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:43 am GMT

    merry xmas

  • Mike_Labeckio

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:27 am GMT

    whats this winners and losers crap anyway. Do you get some special gift for being a fanboy? I've got all 3 systems and buy games for all on a regular basis.

    Then again I don't waist money on short lived thrills.

    I feel bad for the employees who loose their jobs because of the market whoas, which this article is pointing out "JOB LOOSES". Not gains in the market place.

  • Alphamale001

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:26 am GMT

    Living in Michigan, we have been in a recession for many years now. hard to find work and the weather is terrible. The auto industry, what is left of it here, can't leave fast enough. Lions are the worst team in the NFL. So when I say I feel bad for those losing their jobs, I can relate. It is such a shame. Hopefully those that have been cut can find work fast. Not just with the Sony cuts, but through out all these recent gaming houses just slashing jobs or almost going under. I mean when EA has to make job cuts, you know times are rough.

  • Mike_Labeckio posted Dec 10, 2008 11:21 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Mike_Labeckio

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:21 am GMT (hide)

    PRICE is not too much. Enough of this price is too high crap. The 360, Wii, and PS3 are all properly priced by whats inside. The consumer is the problem in this case. ATARI did not set a price standard, it was just the profitable price point at the time. If you add in inflation the 2600 would cost more today than any of todays new systems. Since your all so cheap and worried about pinching your pennies, next time you take a real vacation or just go out for a weekend(or just for the night for that matter) take a good look at how much you spend. Doing anything more than being a hermit is not coast effective. You could easily drop twice the coast of a PS3 in a weekend away from home, yet when the weekends over so is the experience.

    Pull your heads out of your rectum's long enough to see the picture, instead of that tunnel vision that has you hooked.

  • Krytikal1986

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:16 am GMT

    I am a PS360 owner, and I have stood by Sony since I got my PS1 in 1996 for Christmas. I have two PS1's, two PS2's, a PSP, and a PS3. I see that Sony is losing, and will continue to lose this generation. Sony won last generation, without a doubt. They did not focus on their multi-million user base, they focused on technology for their future: blu-ray. Because of this, the gaming fans of Sony feel left out, unacknowledged, and therefore turn to a system that receives more support than AA frequents: Xbox 360. Hopefully Sony can make a comeback, because they deserve it as much as anyone else.

  • frmld

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:10 am GMT

    and by the way, i see that this little piece of news here has created an opening for xbox fans to pay out the ps3, so im telling you, u have ur fun know(which disgusts me), but when MS starts publicly announcing job loses ,wel lu wont be laughing then will u.
    and krytikal, whats so funny about a sony microwave please tell. what u have never seen a microwave before. it seems that ever one continues to try and piss me off because of my opinions on this matter. well know, im telling you to stop

  • frmld

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:08 am GMT

    well im goin too answer both aurus and trip right know. firstly aurus, im not excited by the least that MS is going to be announcing job loses ok. everyone is acting as though sony is the only company with job losses in the world and im here to say thats not true.u wana play mr right aurus, u go right ahead,but dont expect any sympathy nor denial from me when u reply to this post.
    As for you trip, u really are a piece of work. what have i said to piss u off. why dont u just leave me alone ok. i would mind that language of yours as well. might just get u banned one day. i will say what ever i want to say just like every person on Gb has a right to do, and if some one wants to have a debate, they will do it in a friendly manner so im telling you once and for all u wana answer my thought on a topic, u do it in a friendly manner. i believe that the ps3 and the xbox are =, and that they differ from their exclusives. thats my gaming view. as for my company view, i stand by sony all the way. and whatever u say will not change that. u know, ur supposed to be trying to convince me of your point of view, not trying to annoy me which your smart comments every time i express my view. know we can either have a friendly debate, or i can complain like a "nutsack" and have u banned for 3 days.

  • subrosian

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:03 am GMT

    TripSe7en - Agreed, unfortunately the diehard fanboys don't think that way. They accuse GameSpot of bias simply for reporting the facts. They blame Microsoft for Sony's layoffs, and they feel that a multi-billion dollar corporation is somehow the "victim" in all of this.
    -
    Sony screwed up - their various divisions all had money symbols in their eyes when "PS3" hit the drawing board. What wound up happening was that R&D got out of control, the PS3 came out late, and the pricetag was too much for the mass market.
    -
    Now, we can be elitists and jerks, or we can look at things realistically. SONY SCREWED UP. Microsoft didn't "trick them", Nintendo isn't an evil overlord with dark powers, Sony was the MARKET LEADER with billions put into research, they had every opportunity to win the generation - they had money, reputation, power, research, and potential.
    -
    What did they do? They let managers in other divisions and their own ego blind them to the threat posed by the Wii, and their own arrogance convince them that Microsoft could never become a genuine competitor - they built a system with a goal price of $1000, ignoring all market research, and dropped at $600 a year later than the 360.
    -
    The result? They're in last place. Not because Microsoft is a better company, not because Nintendo is trendier, but because Sony made poor decisions.
    -
    If you're truly a fan of Sony, you need to keep them on the hook. Make Sony take responsibility for their screwups. Make them apologize. Hold them accountable and place a little blame on the people who are *really responsible* (Sony). Blaming other companies for Sony's failures makes no sense.
    -
    Sony has the ability to come back - they could release the PS4 next gen and get back on the road to profitability and market dominance, but they can't do that until they learn from the mistakes of the PS3.

  • jknight5422

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 11:00 am GMT

    @sgt-hawkins: Actually, you can't just focus so narrowly on the game console area, but you have to take in all the outside influences. I'd say that reports of Sorny tankage is a strong indicator of croaching console enfailment.

  • sgt-hawkins

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 10:56 am GMT

    such a sad thing when 16000 people go jobless and all we worry about is the fact that one system is better than the other...and as a matter of fact its sony losing the employess in diffrent branches not only playstation this is not an appropiate article for gs because its not really game related as much as it is news related or it should be in like a special news place but try to stop thinking of how great you and your console or computer are and remember that 16000 is a number to you but to those people that was their livlihood most here have a good home and i would be willing a lot live with their parents but it isnt so easy when you dont have theme to fall back on.

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