The Visual Arts Services Group is known for its work on The Last of Us Part 1.

The video game industry in the current year has witnessed a rollercoaster of events. On one hand, the quality of game releases and sales has reached unprecedented heights, with some truly remarkable achievements. However, this success story is offset by a challenging reality: many studios are grappling with the difficulty of retaining their workforce, resulting in employment uncertainties among staff members.

PlayStation’s Visual Arts Service Group is the latest studio to be hit by the wave of layoffs. Several affected staff members have taken to social media to announce that they have been let go and to seek out new employment opportunities. It is unclear at this point how many employees have been affected by the job cuts.

“Unfortunately, following a wave of layoffs last week was my last at PlayStation,” senior-level designer Daniel Bellemere wrote on LinkedIn. “While this is certainly not the news I was hoping for, I’m grateful to have had a chance to work amongst extremely talented colleagues on incredible projects and I’m leaving with good memories of my time there. I am starting to actively look for my next challenge.”

Bellemere was reportedly working on an unannounced project at the time he was laid off. It is unclear whether he was based at PlayStation’s Visual Arts Group or Sony San Diego at the time of the job cuts.

“Goodbye PlayStation / Sony Interactive Entertainment, it’s been real!” Sr. Technical Recruiter Matt Barney wrote. “For the past few months, I knew this layoff wave was coming. I love PlayStation & I always will… I mean, I stayed when I had the chance to leave, so obviously!”

“I loved every single minute of partnering with you! However, I have learned today that I will unfortunately no longer be your Staffing partner.”

The Visual Arts Service Group was founded in 2007 and is based in San Diego. The objective of the studio is to support the growth of PlayStation’s biggest IPs. Visual Arts rose to prominence for its work on The Last of Us Part 1 before the game was moved to Naughty Dog.

Layoffs have been commonplace throughout 2023 with the biggest developers being hit hard by uncertain market conditions. Microsoft’s restructuring plan affected employees from Xbox, 343 Industries, and Bethesda while Epic recently lost 870 employees. CD Projekt Red also had to cut 9% of its workforce resulting in unionization of its employees.

The Embracer Group has also had a wave of job cuts with studios like Crystal Dynamics, Beamdog, and Volition. The publisher also closed down Campfire Cabal and Volition and considered the sale of Gearbox Entertainment.

EA, Ubisoft, Telltale Games, Firaxis Games, Take-Two, and Riot Games are just some of the companies that have announced job cuts this year.