Media Molecule has mentioned the layoffs on the Sony-owned studio have affected plans for ongoing group and curation assist in PlayStation 4 game Dreams.
The Guildford, UK-based developer, additionally identified for creating the LittleBigPlanet sequence, entered into a consultancy with staff last year. That course of ends spring 2024, when Media Molecule will lose its Curation Team.
In a brand new blog post, Media Molecule mentioned that the impression to its groups means “we will be unable to deliver on all the promises” outlined in a 2023 blog post discussing plans for ongoing group and curation assist in Dreams following the top of reside assist. This included The Impsider editorial, which is able to not occur. However, Media Molecule mentioned it can proceed its streams and assist of the Dreams group through social channels.
As introduced, reside assist for DreamSurfing and DreamShaping will finish in mid-April. Media Molecule mentioned this may coincide with the launch of recent playlists alongside spotlighting the Dreams Recommender playlist offering “tip-top” suggestions primarily based on what gamers just lately performed in Dreams.
“Overall, the plan here is ensuring that Dreams transitions into a self-sustaining platform, with these changes helping to filter new creations through to regular Dreams players whilst creators reach their deserved audience for their games, animations, music and everything in between,” Media Molecule mentioned.
Fans have expressed concern about the way forward for Dreams ever since Media Molecule introduced the redundancies in October. Media Molecule insisted there are not any plans to take Dreams offline, whereas admitting the final 12 months have been “tough” for the studio.
"We see a lot of talk and a lot of worry about the future of Dreams in our streams and on social media, and while it’s impossible for anyone to predict what the future might hold, we want to reassure you today that there are currently no plans to take Dreams offline, restricting access to the thousands upon thousands of amazing creations brought to life by all of our fabulous creators," Media Molecule mentioned.
"This was an incredibly tough time for the studio as a whole and it meant the world to see support from folks on our social channels. While we're still working through the process, the studio as a whole continues to work on our exciting new project which we'll talk about when we're ready."
The redundancies at Media Molecule have been introduced months earlier than Sony confirmed plans to lay off around 900 staff, or about 8% of its international PlayStation workforce. The devastating wave of cuts affected a variety of PlayStation studios, together with Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Firesprite, and, most importantly, PlayStation's London studio, which is to shut. Alongside the layoffs, a variety of in-development video games have been canceled, Sony mentioned.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].