While the world was rejoicing over the confirmation of the PS5 (and its official release window), it turns out that something sinister was happening behind closed doors, drowned by all the PS5 euphoria.

According to various sources (via Video Game Chronicle), the directors of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (SIEA) visited Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE) in London on Tuesday (when the PS5 news broke) to announce the restructuring of several divisions, including marketing and PR, in a move to supposedly unify these different divisions.

Affected employees were given a notice for re-interviews, while a number of employees in the US-based creative services team were laid off. At least one of the victims of the layoffs spoke out about what happened on his/her/their Twitter account:

I was part of the creative services team at #PlayStation that got #laidoff today. This group of talented & passionate people are out of a job & now #lookingforwork. If you’re hiring for project coordinators, managers, & designers please post below!

— JC (@JC_Art_) October 8, 2019

This is all apparently part of the worldwide PlayStation’s effort towards a more centralised global structure of sorts, the conflict and turmoil of which was recently hinted at in the sudden departure of former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden and SIE Japan-Asia president / SIE Japan director Atsushi Morita.

It seems like SIEA will be leading the charge on globalisation efforts, as all other divisions like SIEE and SIE Japan-Asia will presumably be taking orders from them in the complex transition to the next generation of gaming with the PS5.

SIEA’s is so dominant that sources told Video Game Chronicle that SIEE reportedly wasn’t even aware of the former’s decision to reveal the PS5’s details exclusively on online publication Wired.

The number of PlayStation employees who were laid off was never properly disclosed if SIE’s reply to Video Game Chronicle (they declined to comment on the issue) is any indication.

Despite these sad turn of events, it’s heartening to see major game devs like State Of Decay developer Undead Labs, Sniper Elite franchise developers Rebellion Developments, and even PlayStation rivals Xbox Games Marketing general manager Aaron Greenberg all offering jobs to the person who was laid off (and tweeted).