Sony-acquired studio Firesprite has recently suffered a high-profile exit amid accusations of a toxic workplace culture, Eurogamer reports, ahead of layoffs announced by Sony this week. An investigation has been launched.
The Liverpool-based developer released PlayStation VR2 launch title Horizon Call of the Mountain last year, after being acquired by Sony in 2021. However, the game’s release crisis and the impact of changes in the company’s upper management subsequently caused dissatisfaction within the studio. , staff told Eurogamer – one source described it as “death by a thousand cuts”.
Most concerning are reports from sources that two executives from Sony’s support studio XDev, who were brought in to help lead Firesprite, have been accused of sexism and age discrimination. Following an internal investigation by Sony, this claim was reportedly dismissed as a “misunderstanding.”
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Firesprite’s layoffs were announced earlier this week as part of mass layoffs across Sony Interactive Entertainment. Approximately 900 SIE employees (8%) will lose their jobs, but it is unclear how many Firesprite employees will be affected. Bloomberg reported that the studio’s live service “Twisted Metal” project has been canceled due to job losses. Eurogamer understands that the studio was also separately working on another high-profile game in the Sony series.
These job cuts were preceded by sources saying that in recent months “surprising A reasonable number of employees reportedly left the studio.
A civil service review of Firesprite on corporate review site Glassdoor said the studio’s “terrible” head was “out of line” and “only thinking about money”, creating a “toxic, bullying culture” and “a culture of fear”. It is said that it is connected to “culture”. However, one recent review took a more sympathetic view, saying that Firesprite’s “old ways” were disorganized and that Sony had restructured the studio that “ruffled many feathers”. It has said.
Eurogamer spoke to a number of people close to the company to understand the cause of this dissatisfaction, all of whom requested anonymity for the sake of their careers. Some said they did not want to participate in the study due to fear of retaliation.
Some staff members said they believed changes were needed at the studio after the PlayStation acquisition, while others suggested that Sony’s corporate culture had changed its culture. The overall picture they painted was of a very different Firesprite than the studio that existed before the acquisition.
Sony has long had a close relationship with Firesprite, which was born from the ashes of PlayStation’s much-closed Studio Liverpool. This studio developed his PlayStation 4 exclusive The Playroom and subsequent expansions, and was also the developer of LittleBigPlanet spin-off Run Sackboy Run. After working on several other PlayStation VR projects, Sony’s acquisition of Firesprite did not cause any surprises.
The acquisition, which was unknown to most staff until it was announced, was “met with cautious positivity,” one source told Eurogamer. Many of our employees are PlayStation fans and were excited about this news. They expected greater job security, support, and other benefits, while being mindful of the risks of new company processes that not everyone agreed with. “I think the majority of people saw this as either an opportunity or a ‘go for it,'” the source said.
However, multiple events led to major changes in Firesprite’s leadership. This included the sad passing of an “irreplaceable” HR leader, with reports stating that the studio’s small HR team was unable to cope with managing the studio’s approximately 300 staff, and at the same time the acquisition In the midst of this, it became impossible to incorporate Sony’s personnel policies.
All but one of Firesprite’s original founders have left the company in the past year. “The final element that made Firesprite a good place to work was with them,” a source told Eurogamer. Sources we spoke to say it remains unclear why the founders left, with some talking of a “domino effect.” According to people familiar with the matter, there is speculation within the company that the founders were not voluntarily resigning, but were forced out by Sony. For example, the sudden departure of former studio head Graham Ankers in May was simply because, according to a recent all-hands meeting, he appeared to be planning for the studio’s long-term future. described it as “unbelievable.”
New leadership was then brought in from Sony’s support studio XDev, which one source described as “classic nepotism.” Staff we spoke to said the new boss was either out of his element or had different values than Firesprite’s original founders. “It seems there is no need to gain leadership. And trust is gone,” one said. Another source described them as an “inappropriate and harmful mess”, “tyrants” and “bullies” who treat people “like a factory”.
“There doesn’t seem to be a need for leadership. And trust is gone.”
Eurogamer understands that an internal investigation was conducted after around 13 complaints were filed against two XDev leaders regarding sexism and age discrimination. According to sources, Sony has dismissed these complaints as misunderstandings, but Eurogamer understands that some of the parties involved are exploring legal options to take the matter further and have subsequently received payments from Sony. are doing.
One former employee had a more positive view: “I’ve never seen anything but professionalism from the leads and directors.” Another person said Sony had “played politics and put their own people in charge,” but acknowledged the studio needed to make changes to avoid canceling the project. Had things changed sooner, they say, they might have reconsidered their retirement.
In fact, sources agree that the impact of the acquisition was two-fold. In the short term, pressure mounted for the release of Horizon Call of the Mountain. In the long run, the company’s culture has broken down, officials say.
The studio was working on a number of projects prior to the acquisition, which have since been merged, which is said to have put pressure on project leaders. Some people said support for middle management collapsed as Sony executives focused on more pressing issues while staff were moved to new projects they were not interested in.
Sources said the push to hire specific talent led to the creation of roles for specific talent, but Sony’s hiring freeze scuppered the effort. “Sony made the worst mistake of buying a studio and interfering with it to the point where it would go into a death spiral and potentially not be able to complete any of the projects they were working on,” one source said.
“Sony made the worst mistake of buying a studio and interfering with it to the point where it would go into a death spiral and potentially not be able to complete any of the projects they were working on.”
Regarding Horizon in particular, sources say there was also pressure from Guerrilla, the creator of Horizon Zero Dawn, who, understandably, is not interested in the idea that his own franchise or another studio would It is said that they were protecting the characters they were using. At Firesprite, we were keen to make Call of the Mountain a high-quality PSVR2 system seller and stick to a set date as a launch title after moving development from PS4 to his PS5. The project’s team doubled in size in three months, but this changed the dynamics and sources say it was difficult to integrate newcomers.
“There was a lot of pressure on the team to not only deliver the game, but also to switch platforms and systems and hire new talent. The scope and quality remain the same. And the end date remains the same.” There was no intention of changing,” the source said.
As a result, Horizon found itself in a tough spot leading up to its release date, with one source saying that the staff was “naturally nervous” even though they had been instructed to do so. Stated. Meanwhile, other projects were not making progress and staff were feeling dissatisfied.
Firesprite employees say the company was previously known for its positive culture, but Sony does not support this to the same degree and the new management team does not exhibit the same values. No, sources claim. Former staffers say big creative decisions were ruthlessly forced onto the team, with an attitude of “just doing the job.”
As complaints mount, sources say Firesprite’s company policy remains that there have been no problems despite layoffs and staff departures, and management has repeatedly insisted everything is fine. It is said that he was “Firesprite appears to be more concerned about protecting publicity than the concerns of the remaining teams,” one source said.
Others had a more positive experience, citing the new management’s “strong push for inclusivity,” where “people from a wider range of backgrounds, ethnicities, and gender identities are respected and worked together.”
“It’s really difficult to capture the nuances,” said another source. [the situation]“I was coming to work every day and waking up feeling tired. It’s not just burnout, it’s stress. It’s people feeling unsupported.” .”
“It’s not just burnout. It’s stress. It’s people feeling unsupported.”
Staff performance reviews were conducted to coincide with the end of the Horizon project, but with so many staff leaving, many of the remaining staff were left without any reviews or pay adjustments from their line managers. I did. One stakeholder said he had to give performance reviews to people he didn’t manage without feedback from previous managers or direction from human resources. “That’s bad management,” they said. Another source left Firesprite feeling “disillusioned and frustrated” and described the studio as a “sinking ship”.
Looking ahead, sources suggest that leadership will rethink the studio’s principles, listen to staff and decide what the culture will be. Additionally, Firesprite will need to explore new ways of thinking and leading from outside Sony.
“The industry is really suffering right now,” one source said, linking the Firesprite situation to industry-wide layoffs and how this could affect the long-term reputation of both the studio and PlayStation itself. I told you what there is. “There’s a lot of loss, but things like this come and go. People have long memories of where they’ve had bad experiences, and having that long memory means you can’t go back to Fire Sprite. This means that some people will say, “I don’t want to work at Sony.” or “I don’t want to work at Sony.”
“People always chase money over the careers and games they’ve been working on, and especially when you look at companies that are making huge amounts of money but are making massive layoffs, it’s a better balance.
“I think it’s about being open and transparent and collaborative…listening when people are waving the flag and saying something is wrong.”
Eurogamer has reached out to Sony for comment on this report, but has yet to receive a response.