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Sony Game Unit Cutting Jobs: Report TMCnet Web Editor Sony’s beleaguered games business has taken another hit with the announcement that it would cut jobs in the U.S., two months after slashing jobs in Europe.
According to Reuters and several other online reports, Sony has not decided how many of its approximately 1,500 employees it would let go in the U.S., though word leaked out that as many as 100 employees were axed at Sony’s U.S headquarters.
The layoffs come on top of Sony’s April announcement it would cut up to 160 jobs in Europe. And, Sony is reportedly seeking to streamline its Japanese operations.
The moves perhaps come as no surprise as the Japan electronics giant has seen sales of its Sony Playstation 3 flounder in comparison to Microsoft’s (News - Alert) Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii. Industry analysts and observers have attributed Playstation 3’s soft sales to a high price tag and a number of production delays that disrupted momentum for the next-generation video game system.
According to the Reuters report, Playstation 3 sales in Japan in May were 45,321 – compared to 251,794 for Wii. In the U.S., Playstation 3 sales in April lagged far behind both Wii and Xbox 360.
Spencer Chin is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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