The British team, an expert in virtual reality video games for PlayStation VR, is the closing of the third Sony studio in four years.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that it will close its subsidiary SCE Manchester Studio soon. The information, advanced by GamesIndustry, marks the closure of Sony's third British studio in four years after saying goodbye to Evolution (DriveClub) in 2016 and Guerrilla Cambridge (MediEvil) in 2017.
This movement is part of the Asian giant's plan for "our efforts to improve efficiency and our operational effectiveness." The source assures that Sony was perceiving redundant the existence of this study, whose operations may be delegated to other Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiaries with larger size and capacity.
Sony has not issued any statement to expand the story, so they are expected to do the same at the time of the final closure of the English team.
Sony Manchester will close with just five years of history
The foundation of SCE Manchester Studio dates back to 2015, when Sony PlayStation considered it necessary to open a team that devoted almost all its efforts to the development of virtual reality video games; In fact, his first project was an unannounced title for PlayStation VR.
Manchester Studio, like Evolution and Guerrilla Cambridge, have been the victims of Sony's European restructuring processes during this generation. Despite the excellent sales of the brand in Europe, where PlayStation has a greater market share worldwide – far superior to the advantage it has in the United States and Japan – its performance has not been an obstacle to avoid this closure .
The latest official information to which we have had access encrypts PlayStation VR sales in 5 million units sold worldwide; a proportion that the company expects to continue growing after the arrival of PlayStation 5 this Christmas, date recently ratified on the occasion of the opening of the official website of that console.
However, SIE reported on Tuesday sales of more than 108 million units sold for the PS4 family of consoles, as well as a historical peak of active users in the PS Plus membership service.
