Report: SCEE Considering Mass Transitional Layoffs
According to online reports, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is looking to downsize its internal staff by nearly 10 percent, a move it says is necessary for maintaining its "leading position" in an "increasingly networked and converged entertainment."
Speaking to website GameDaily, SCEE Director of Corporate Communications Nick Sharples
said that while no one had as yet been terminated, it is indeed an avenue the company is considering as it moves forward.
"SCEE has successfully faced a number of challenges throughout its history to become a leader of the videogame industry, our industry is in the middle of a period of transition where some of the fundamentals of our business are changing," Sharples said.
"Chief amongst these is that we are entering a future of increasingly networked and converged entertainment," he continued. "In order to maintain our leading position in the market we sometimes have to make difficult business decisions. The management of the company has concluded that we need to change our structure, streamline and strengthen our business operations – and that our cost base needs to be significantly reduced."
An email purported to be from SCEE president and CEO David Reeves sent anonymously to game blog Destructoid
echoed the same opinion -- at times verbatim -- and outlined the plans the company would be undertaking over the coming week.
Read the full article here...Brandon Boyer
April 16, 2007
Source: Gamasutra