Sony Santa Monica has confirmed that they have laid off a large number of employees, although they did not provide any numbers. There is also one upcoming project in the studio that has been cancelled.
In a public statement, SCEA explains that the decision was the “result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas.” They affirm that they do not make these decisions hastily or frivolously, but have found it necessary.
If one looks at the Santa Monica Studio website, they can confirm that Hohokum, Everybody’s Gone Toe The Rapture, and The Order: 1886 are still featured, so neither of these games were cancelled. It seems to be an unannounced project that required a significant number of Santa Monica’s employees. You can see a tweet from the Playstation account alluding to the unannounced title last year below.
Fun fact: @SonySantaMonica Studio, @MediaMolecule, @NaughtyDog are working on unannounced PS4 titles
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 20, 2013
Santa Monica explained they were hiring when they announced their move to Playa Vista, and now we can also confirm the studio is looking for even more employees, in both senior and starting positions. Their need also encompasses several fields, including production, art, design, and programming. It seems like an entire internal studio was let go. As for the unannounced cancelled project, we can only guess what it is.
Phil Spencer has confirmed that they are seeking out developers from Sony Santa Monica, as well as Irrational Games, and told a fan to spread the #helpDEVS tag so that they can find and contact them. We wish all these developers the best of luck.
Image is from Hohokum.
@GGhalid Like the #helpDEVS tag. Keep that one going. We've reached out and are engaged in hiring.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 26, 2014
