SCEE to lay off a good number of employees
by Nick Doerr 
{ Apr 17th 2007 at 12:00PM }
Layoffs suck. Especially when you don't expect them to happen, as the fortune cookie is meant to show. Chances are, in our lifetimes, we'll all be subject to at least one layoff scare. Joystiq got it right -- Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is pulling an Office Space (complete with John McGinley). The number of layoffs is still up in the air, but it's rumored to be around 160. That's a lot of people (nearly 10% of SCEE's workforce). The reasoning is to streamline communications and reduce costs. Fair enough, but there's always two sides to the coin.This is no time to point fingers and giggle, fanboys of competing consoles. This has nothing to do with flamebait, flamewar, PS3 sales, or whatever. The facts are these: the company has dropped over $1 billion over the last year. That sucks. It is a sad day, but one that every company falls into at some point.
[also available at Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
scott @ Apr 17th 2007 12:35PM
That's always a great sign!
mccomber @ Apr 17th 2007 12:55PM
Not to be cold, but sometimes you've just got to trim the fat. Twice at places where I've worked they've just stopped, said "why the hell do we have so many people?" and started a round of layoffs. Wasn't really because of low profits or money problems, it was just a matter of too many hires over the years leading to a lot of excess, and the larger a company is the more likely that is to happen.
Jared @ Apr 17th 2007 12:57PM
My honest and deep condolences to the Sony employees who will lose their jobs. I've known several people who've worked for different branches of Sony in my local area. I may own a Wii and not a PS3, butpeople losing work and kids going hungry is never anything to celebrate.
Geoff Gibson @ Apr 17th 2007 1:23PM
Layoffs are harsh.
I'd even go so far as to say its worse than being fired for the simple reason that you are being told "you just aren't worth it anymore." Which is kind of a shock to anybody esteem.
Hopefully they all find better jobs that pay twice as much somewhere else.
Matt B @ Apr 17th 2007 2:12PM
I live near Corning Inc and they always hire a bunch and in a few years have massive layoffs. Then in a year or 2 hire a bunch for a few years....etc. It happens in any huge business.