Did anyone believe it when the games industry basically announced that it was recession-proof? I didn’t think so. In the past year alone we’ve seen tons of studios close and even more have had to endure cuts. And now Sony is starting to feel the pinch.
Nikkei, a daily financial paper in Japan, announced that starting in April, Sony has decided to freeze its workers’ salaries for one year, in order to improve profitability.
It also reports that workers will be getting smaller bonuses, bringing in only four months pay instead of six months. Luckily, (or unluckily depending on where you stand) it isn’t just the average salaryman who is getting these cuts. Managers will be getting pay cuts of 10 to 20 percent and reduced bonuses of 35 to 40 percent.
Even the people on top aren’t free from the cuts. “Executives will also be slugged with huge cuts to bonuses and salaries,” Nikkei reports.
Due to the dark economic time and the strength of the yen, Sony predicts a group operating loss of 260 billion yen, which translates to about $2.65 billion.
In other words, the next time you are trying to decide whether to buy your multi-platform game on 360 or PS3, throw Sony a bone, won’t you? You don’t really need those achievement points anyway.
