Ghost of Yōtei earned over $400 million in revenue during its launch year, trailing Ghost of Tsushima by just 3%, according to reports. Despite this strong performance, developer Sucker Punch has reportedly suffered a wave of layoffs affecting 26 employees.
An internal email shared with Aftermath by a studio employee confirmed the staffing reductions. The message stated: "After carefully observing the challenges in the market and reviewing the team needs for our next project, we've decided to make some staffing reductions. Several positions across Sucker Punch will be eliminated as a result."
The layoffs come just two months after the launch of Ghost of Yōtei and roughly two months after Sucker Punch appointed new studio heads, Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley, both former technical leaders at the studio. The justification for the cuts suggests the studio is either streamlining operations or shifting focus toward less ambitious projects.
This marks another round of job losses at a successful Sony studio in 2026, following Bungie's "significant" layoffs of around 400 employees in June and the closure of Bluepoint Games in February after project cancellations.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing