Sony to lay off 900 workers from PlayStation division, or 8% of unit’s global workforce

Sony Interactive Entertainment on Tuesday said it will lay off about 900 employees in its PlayStation unit, or 8% of its global workforce, becoming the latest technology company to announce headcount trims.

“After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it has become clear changes need to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company,” the unit’s President and CEO Jim Ryan said in an email to employees, released publicly by the company.

He added that employees across all of the company’s regions will be impacted by the layoffs. PlayStation’s London studio will close in its entirety, with several other studios due to be affected.

The Japanese gaming giant cut its sales forecast for its flagship PlayStation 5 console on Feb. 14, after it warned of lower demand. Sony at the time said that it expects to sell 21 million units of the PS5 in the fiscal year ending in March, trimmed from a previous forecast near 25 million consoles.

The company’s shares plunged sharply after the forecast cut announcement.

Analysts had anticipated that Sony could move to release a refreshed version of the PlayStation 5 this year, seeking to boost interest in the console.

Tuesday’s announcement from Sony is the latest in a string of layoffs affecting the tech industry. In January, Microsoft laid off about 9% of its gaming unit after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Earlier this month, Cisco and DocuSign both announced plans to cut their workforces as part of restructuring plans.

Shares of Sony were trading about flat Tuesday morning.

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

This is a breaking news story, and it is being updated.