In light of DriveClub‘s beleaguered launch and server issues, Sony has formally confirmed that UK based developer Evolution Studios is set to lose 55 staff, as the studio looks to undergo restructuring in an effort to support the racer “as a service” moving forward.
The redundancies were first announced on Friday, March 20, with the report suggesting that these layoffs will see close to half of the developing team walk out the door. Nevertheless, both Evolution and Sony remain committed to ensuring that DriveClub still gets the support it requires, all the while shepherding the long-gestating PlayStation Plus Edition of the racer to release.
Evolution Studios will now focus on DriveClub as a service going forward, in particular, the important launch of the PS Plus Edition. We will be restructuring Evolution Studios to ensure that SCE WWS and in particular, Evolution Studios are in the best position to achieve these goals.
Our first party development studios are key to our creative strategy and we are very excited about the future projects being worked on and the role Evolution Studios will play. We will be looking to relocate team members throughout the studios, but unfortunately some redundancies will be necessary and in those cases we will assist staff in any way we can.
Whether this is the first step in Evolution’s ultimate journey to closure remains to be scene, but the report picked up by Eurogamer suggests that the core team that remain at the UK studio are the cream of the crop when it comes to racing simulators.
We’ll keep you posted on the status of both DriveClub and its developer Evolution as we learn more. For now, tell us, are you surprised by these redundancies?