Earlier today, rumors of layoffs at Media Molecule for 15-20% of the staff were first reported on Sports Illustrated. This afternoon, the Guildford-based studio owned by Sony admitted that the layoffs are real in a message shared on Twitter (X).
Media Molecule has made significant strategic changes during the past year, including shifting our focus from Dreams to our new project.
We have had to make the difficult decision to begin the consultation process for team members within certain departments of the studio. This is a tough moment for the individuals impacted and the studio overall.
Every single role that has been put at risk is delivered by someone who has contributed something special to Media Molecule. We will make sure those impacted receive the best support we can provide during this process. We will continue to support the Dreams Community for the foreseeable future and will update on future plans at a later date.
The news follows the departure of Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healey, announced in April.
Dreams launched on February 14, 2020 for PlayStation 4 after almost a year of early access phase. An evolution of LittleBigPlanet with even greater UGC capabilities, it received extremely positive reviews from critics. Our own Kai Powell rated it 9/10 in his review:
Dreams is only in its infancy at the moment and I fully expect to see the full potential of the platform take months to achieve. However, even days after its official release, there are already a great number of Dreams that give me hope for the platform. Even multiplayer and PlayStation VR support are both in development and should arrive sooner rather than later. This is one creative platform that I hope persists for a long time and even makes its way onto next-generation consoles. If you've had a great idea for a game, stop dreaming how to do it and do it instead (in Dreams).
Unfortunately, Dreams never made it to PlayStation 5 or PC, despite rumors of the latter possibility, and now Media Molecule has moved away from the project to focus on its next game (with a smaller staff).
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
