Media Molecule confirms that roles within “certain departments of the studio” are at risk

Media Molecule, the PlayStation Studios developer best known for its work on LittleBigPlanet and the PS4 game creation title, Dreams, has confirmed that the roles of staff within “certain departments of the studio” have been put at risk. It stated that starting this process was a “difficult decision”. 

In a statement posted to Twitter, the studio explained that it’s made “significant strategic changes during the past year”, such as the end of live support for Dreams back in September. 

“We have had to make the difficult decision to begin the consultation process for team members within certain departments of the studio,” it wrote. “This is a tough moment for the individuals impacted and the studio overall.

“Every single role that has been put at risk is delivered by someone who has contributed something special to Media Molecule,” it continued. “We will make sure those impacted receive the best support we can provide during this process.”

The studio wrapped up the statement confirming that it plans to continue supporting the Dreams community “for the foreseeable future”.  However, it didn’t confirm how many members of staff are at risk, or which departments are being impacted. TRG has reached out to Sony for comment but has not received a reply at the time of writing.

A number of game studios have been impacted by redundancies recently - last month, it was confirmed that Fortnite developer Epic Games is laying off around 16% of its workforce. At the time, CEO Tim Sweeney stated that the company had “been spending way more money than we earn”, and said: “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but, in retrospect, I see that this was unrealistic.”

Just last week, Frontier Developments, the studio behind the F1 Manager games, confirmed that it was also laying off some of its staff, although the exact number affected is unknown.

If you want to keep up with the rest of the year’s game releases, be sure to take a look at our list of upcoming games and new PS5 games.