Former PlayStation Europe and Codemasters boss, Chris Deering has suggested that developers affected by the recent wave of games industry layoffs should “drive an Uber” or “go to the beach” for a year, while waiting for the industry to resolve its widespread issues.
In the latest episode of journalist Simon Parkin’s My Perfect Console podcast, Deering – who was president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe from 1995 to 2005, and president of Codemasters from 2006 to 2010 – was asked about the current trend of layoffs across the industry.
Deering replied that the layoffs were just part of business and that it wasn’t fair to say that they were driven by greed.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed,” Deering said. “I always tried to minimise the speed with which we added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle, and I didn’t want to end up having the same problems that Sony did in electronics.
“Now, of course, there was just recently a big layoff of Sony studios, and in London, but that whole studio setup has been run out of Amsterdam now for a few years, and I don’t know… if the money isn’t coming in from the consumers on the last game, it’s going to be hard to justify spending the money for the next game.”
The games exec – who is currently an advisor to various company boards – then suggested that developers being made redundant would eventually be able to get back into the business, but that they would have to sit on the sidelines for a while.
“I think it’s probably very painful for the managers, but I don’t think that having skill in this area [game development] is going to be a lifetime of poverty or limitation,” he said.
“It’s still where the action is, and it’s like the pandemic, but now you’re going to have to take a few… figure out how to get through it. Drive an Uber or whatever, go off to find a cheap place to live and go to the beach for a year.
“But keep up with your news and keep up with it, because once you get off the train, it’s much harder.
“But I’m optimistic about the future, even for people that have just recently been laid off. And these things do recover sometimes a lot faster than you might think, when all is very precarious.
“I presume people were paid some kind of a decent severage package, and by the time that runs out… well, you know, that’s life.”
He added: “I always say what’s really exciting about the insutry is that you never really have the chance to get depressed. What you have to do, is things jump out in front of you, and you deal with them, just like in a game. So get over it.
“Really, that’s the excitement of the industry that shit like this happens, and it’s very sad, but it’s not going to be forever, and you know, come on guys, wake up. This is not the first time.”
The games industry has continued to see widespread layoffs, which began to accelerate in 2023 and have continued throughout 2024 with no sign of stopping.
Game developer Farhan Noor, who has been tracking job cuts dating back to the start of 2022 on videogameslayoffs.com, estimates that around 10,500 games industry employees were laid off last year, and that around 11,540 have already been laid off this year so far.
Earlier this year, Deering’s former employer, Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced it would reduce its overall headcount by “about 8% or about 900 people”. The layoffs included the entire closure of the PlayStation London Studio.