Sony lays off almost 90 PlayStation staff in North America

Sony has laid off nearly 90 employees from PlayStation in North America, drastically reducing staff in its sales and marketing divisions.

The cuts: The decision hints at a major shift in strategy for the company.

• As first reported by Axios, the lay-offs took place this week with many of them being sales and marketing roles.
• Sony PlayStation is reportedly shuttering its 'merchandiser' team in the United States, which includes employees that would visit retail stores to help bolster sales of PlayStation products.
• It's reported that the decision was made as part of a "global transformation" for the company's business and sales strategies. One affected former employee told Axios that they felt Sony "could have done more" to help find new roles for those impacted.

A wider lens: This move, along with the "transformation" reasoning, could be seen as a positive for the company.

• With 62% of PlayStation's game sales taking place digitally in the third fiscal quarter of 2021, there could well be a bigger pusher to market directly to consumers — a strategy that was undoubtedly emphasised by lockdowns over the past two years — on the horizon.
• There are plenty of open job roles at PlayStation, some of which are related to selling its online services. It's becoming increasingly clearer that these services, such as the subscription-based PlayStation Plus, are becoming a big part of the PlayStation brand's future.