• Anderenortsfalsch@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        An ex-Sony exec said laid-off employees should ‘go to the beach for a year’ or ‘drive an Uber’ Lian Kit Wee Sep 11, 2024, 7:15 AM MESZ

        Chris Deering Sony Former Sony Entertainment president, Chris Deering, told recently laid-off employees to take a break for a year and wait for opportunities to return. Reuters

        Ex-Sony Entertainment president Chris Deering said laid-off employees should take time off. Deering said that he doesn’t believe the recent Sony layoffs result from corporate greed. In February, Sony said it would lay off 900 employees from its PlayStation division.

        Former Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president Chris Deering has a blunt message for recently laid-off game developers: They should “go to the beach for a year” or “drive an Uber” until the job market improves.

        Deering, who led Sony’s European PlayStation division during the launch of the iconic game console and its successor, PlayStation 2, acknowledged the pain of Sony’s recent cuts.

        The company said in February it would lay off about 900 people globally and close PlayStation Studios’ London studio, amid a slowing gaming market. Deering dismissed the notion that the layoffs were purely driven by corporate motives.

        “I don’t think it’s fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed,” Deering said on journalist Simon Parkin’s “My Perfect Console” podcast. "I always tried to minimize the speed in which we added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle.

        Fluctuations in consumer spending and recent games’ diminishing sales impact the company’s ability to “justify spending the money for the next game,” making some staffing cuts inevitable, said Deering.

        Deering offered some unconventional advice for game developers affected by the layoffs. He suggested workers take time off or find temporary work, like driving for Uber, while the industry stabilizes.

        “It’s like the pandemic,” Deering told Parkin. “You’re going to have to figure out how to get through it, drive an Uber, or whatever. Find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year.”

        His remarks come at a time when layoffs have hit the gaming industry hard.

        Other game developers, including Microsoft and Unity, have similarly downsized their studios this year, cutting over 3,000 jobs at the start of the year, BI reported in February.

        This series of layoffs in the game industry stemmed from slumping game sales and a shrinking gaming demographic, BI previously reported. Revenue from video game sales in the US in 2023 fell by 2.3% from the previous year, and the average time spent gaming fell from 16.5 hours to 13 hours from 2021 to 2022. Related stories

        However, Deering seemed optimistic about the prospects for game developers. He told Parkin that laid-off workers should take advantage of the time off to recharge but keep an eye out for any opportunities to return to the industry.

        Game development skill is not going to “be a lifetime of poverty or limitation. It’s still where the action is,” said Deering.

        Deering is currently an advisor for Cudo Ventures, a company specializing in monetization applications.

        Sony Interactive Entertainment and Deering did not respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside business hours.

  • essteeyou@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    I haven’t been laid off since April. I haven’t had a job since then though, so that’s not exactly ideal.

  • ch00f@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    At my last job, time they added or removed someone’s key card access, the system would reboot and everyone would be locked out for like two minutes.

    We also had two floors that were connected by a fire stairwell, so you needed a card to re-enter the next floor.

    At least twice my card stopped working in the middle of the word day while I was standing in the stairwell and I assumed that they just fired me and assumed I’d see my own way out.

    Survived three layoffs at that company.

    • SnausagesinaBlanket@lemmy.world
      0·
      5 months ago

      Way too stressful. I worked at a company that was bought by a hedge fund and they were always downsizing, even if it was key employees. It made me under perform and caused insomnia that I never quite got over and it was 11 years ago.

  • AbsentBird@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Anyone else see the back of the chair as the person’s hair in the first two panels?

  • bruhbeans@lemmy.ml
    0·
    5 months ago

    I got canned from my last job and thr way I found out was my work Gmail was locked out, fuckin class acts them.

    Getting fired from my current gig would be a relief tbh.

  • ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    My dad has been a server engineer for a single company for my entire life and he lived like this up until quite recently. His fear oscillates in magnitude with the success of the industry the company is a part of course so it isn’t always severe but I remember every few years as a kid I’d hear him and my mother murmering about lay offs. These days he just jokes about it being an early retirement

  • bleistift2@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    I work in IT. We get notified when people leave.

    The cruelest thing in my company is when we get to know before the person in question…

  • KrankyKong@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    I know the feeling. A few months ago I randomly got a video call from my boss. Both he and the owner of the company were in the line. They let me know that they unfortunately had to let go of almost everyone on the dev team. Some funding had fell through (gotta love startups). Fortunately, I got to keep my job that day, but I can’t shake the feeling that another layoff is right around the corner.

  • HexesofVexes@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    You just captured the daily life of a UK academic after the catastrophically low recruitment numbers this year.