While the world celebrated the newest updates on the PlayStation 5 yesterday, it appears that Sony was simultaneously quietly laying off dozens of employees over in the UK.
VGC reports that a restructuring at Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, which is based in London, UK, has resulted in many job losses within several divisions, including PR and marketing.
VGC also writes that an employee affected shared to Twitter: “I hate that this is going to be drowned by the PS5 announcement.” The tweet has since been deleted.
The publication also claims that the European employees of SIEE weren’t aware that the PlayStation 5 details would be announced through the WIRED article, only learning of the plans when the article was published.
Responding to the job losses, Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg tweeted his condolences for those affected, adding that Xbox is more than happy to recruit those in need.
Greenberg included a link to the Microsoft careers website, writing: “Sorry to hear the news, if folks are open to being in Seattle we do have some roles posted. If I can do anything to help those in the industry impacted please let me know. Start here and you can filter by Xbox.”
SIEE is now facing criticism for revealing new console details at the same time as telling its staff they were losing their jobs, though VGC does note that there “was no suggestion the timing was intentional.”
Over on Twitter, one user said: “Shame the European branch is suffering this much, as the European area is one the main reasons PS dominates. Globalizing their business sounds good though, I hope they’ll put a stop to the massive differences between the PSN regions.”
Another complained: “Shame on you @Sony !! And I say this as an avid PlayStation fan. Pretty appalling.”
Sony declined to comment on the VGC article when approached by the publication.
Featured Image Credit: Microsoft/Sony