PlayStation appoints two new CEOs as Square Enix plans to lay off staff | The Midweek Memo #018

Ahoy 👋

While the industry is recovering from Microsoft's unexpected layoffs and closures last week, Square Enix has announced that it will cut jobs in Europe and the US over the next month.

Speaking of Microsoft, it has confirmed plans to launch a mobile game store this summer, while Xbox executives claim the company needs "smaller" games after shutting down developers who create such games.

On a more positive note, PlayStation has announced that execs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino will now lead the company as joint CEOs, focusing on areas where they have prior experience.

Finally, EA has also sparked an intense debate after its CEO stated that studios have a "hunger" to use AI and that the company is looking to reintroduce in-game advertising.

Hot Jobs 🔥

Remote/early-career positions dominate this week's top ten! 💪

[1] Community Manager VI
🏢 Infernozilla 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[2] QA Play Tester (Apex Legends)
🏢 Respawn 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Temp 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[3] Junior Public Relations Executive
🏢 Starfall PR 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[4] Development Tester
🏢 Ubisoft 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Contract 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[5] Junior QA Analyst
🏢 Big Viking Games 🇨🇦 Remote Canada 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[6] Social Media Coordinator
🏢 Team Liquid 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[7] Associate Environment Artist
🏢 Lightspeed LA 🇺🇸 Irvine, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[8] Game Designer
🏢 Ubisoft 🇨🇦 Halifax, NS 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[9] Junior Game Designer
🏢 Bytro Labs 🇩🇪 Hamburg 📄 Temp 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[10] Unity3D Mobile SDK Team Lead
🏢 Yodo1 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

Over 220 new job opportunities have been posted since our last newsletter. Competition is fierce given the industry's current situation, so we wish you all the best with your applications! 🤞🤞

Big News 📰

👔 Sony appoints two new PlayStation CEOs to replace Jim Ryan

• Sony Interactive Entertainment has appointed Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as CEOs of the company's Studio and Platform Business Groups to succeed PlayStation veteran Jim Ryan, who retired after 30 years of service in March.
  

• Previously the head of PlayStation Studios, Hurst will oversee the company's first-party games and multimedia projects, including all film and television adaptations of its IPs.
  

• Nishino's new role is essentially a continuation of his previous position as SVP of Platform Experiences, with a focus on hardware, PlayStation Network, and third-party relations.

Other News 🗞️

Layoff season appears to be never-ending. Square Enix has announced cuts as part of its three-year business plan, primarily affecting employees in its publishing, IT, and Collective indie games divisions.

And, just a day after shutting down Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and three other studios, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty reportedly told staff that the company needed "smaller games that give us prestige and awards," confusing both fans and employees.

EA has returned to its regular programming of questionable executive statements, with its CEO claiming that developers are “hungry” to use generative AI despite how controversial the technology is. EA also intends to bring back in-game advertising, so expect to see out-of-place real-world brands in your favorite games, just like back in the 2000s…

😞 Square Enix to lay off staff in the US and Europe

😐 Xbox exec says it needs more smaller games a day after the closure of Hi-Fi Rush developer

🤖 EA says its studios have a "hunger" to use generative AI, and it is exploring the idea of in-game ads

📲 Microsoft will launch its mobile game store this summer

Getting Social 📲

Take a look at two of our most-viewed LinkedIn posts from the last seven days:

We're back with another junior-level job thread this week, featuring 20 new opportunities in North America, Europe, and around the globe—and no cursed Toad or Mario in sight! 😆

Nintendo is involved though, as the company is seeking to expand its retail presence with new ambassadors. Infernozilla is on the hunt for another new community manager and a graphic designer from anywhere in the world. There's also a nice remote sales position at Mythic Talent (OTK Network), which manages some of Twitch’s most popular streamers!

If nothing’s a good fit, be sure to check out our platform for more junior-level jobs. We post new opportunities every weekday and are always keeping a keen eye out for early-career listings.

This one is for all of the old-school PS1-era Grand Theft Auto fans out there, and there seem to be quite a few of you!

In The Precinct, players take on the role of a rookie police officer tasked with stopping crimes such as drug deals, street racers, and even bank robberies in an 80s noir sandbox. 🤩

Instead of using a traditional first- or third-person perspective, Fallen Tree Games chose a more top-down approach, which we believe is primed for a big comeback!

The title is expected to be released later this year, but if you're interested, you can add it to your wishlist now on Steam.

Cool Resources 🧱

Welcome to the brand new "Cool Resources” section of the newsletter, where we'll occasionally share career-related articles, courses, Discord servers, and other content for a variety of disciplines whenever we come across them!

We’re kicking off the new section with Game Design Skills’ Mastering Game Mechanics Bootcamp, led by veteran game designer Alexander Brazie formerly of Blizzard, Riot, and Moon.

Alexander has over two decades of experience working on big-name titles such as League of Legends and World of Warcraft, where he was known to players as “Xelnath.” If you’re a WoW fan, he’s behind the Warlock class redesign back in Mists of Pandaria! 🔮

Through live classes and workshops, Alexander’s workshop seeks to teach the skills, tools, and systems used to create top-tier gameplay mechanics over 15 weeks. You'll even lay the groundwork for a combat system inspired by Moon Studios' latest title, No Rest for The Wicked, which Alexander worked on.

Alexander has also put together numerous useful free career and concept guides on the Game Design Skills website. He also runs a paid Game Design course if that's more suitable for you than a more intensive BootCamp!

We’ll be sharing some Unity assets with you next week, but if you have anything in mind for us to include here please be sure to let us know in a reply to this email! 🤝

Peace ✌️

Sadly we couldn't avoid more layoff news this week, and we expect to hear more as Square Enix has yet to confirm how many people will be affected by the cuts.

Now we're hoping that EA's AI plans and PlayStation's new CEOs don't result in any further job losses and that Xbox's closures are over for now.

Still, we'll keep our heads up, and we hope you can do the same. Take care of yourselves wherever you are, and best of luck out there if you’re on the job hunt!

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡