Everyone is feeling the hurt with the global economy in a huge downturn. The US is officially in a recession (as if we didn’t know that already) and looking to head towards the first depression in a very very long time. Overseas, things aren’t fairing much better. Sony announced today that the company will be cutting 8000 jobs from the electronics division in an effort to cut costs by $1.1 billion next year. The job cuts are expected to be completed by March 2010.
Kazuharu Miura, an expert electronics analyst in Tokyo, doesn’t think this will be enough, however. “The entire high-tech market is being seriously hurt,” Miura said. “Japanese companies are all in trouble because of this unexpected worldwide slowdown.”
On the gaming side of things, this current round of job cuts does not affect the PlayStation division. I repeat, Sony is not cutting jobs on the PlayStation side of the business. Will they in the future? Who knows. Either way, the economy is in piss-poor shape and a rebound is nowhere in sight.
[via Yahoo News]
Sorry to be a downer, but this does in fact affect the playstation division. This coming from one of the most respected sites in the business:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/playstation-division-under-review-as-part-of-corporate-changes
“Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed that the PlayStation division is currently involved in the review affecting the wider Sony business “
@Doc – Actually, the round of 8000 lay offs does not affect the PlayStation division. As stated in the GamesIndustry article, the PlayStation division is being reviewed, as are all aspects of Sony, but they are not included in the announced 8000 jobs being cut.
Ouch !! 8,000 people without jobs from ONE company ! That is definately a bummer. How come the Playstation division is “unscathed” though ? Hmm…