Update: Sony has provided the following statement to IGN, confirming what our sources have told us:

SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted.

The original story is below.

Reliable sources have confirmed to IGN that there were layoffs at Sony Santa Monica Studio today. The Sony-owned, exclusive developer – founded in 1999 – is best known for its God of War games.

The extent of the damage remains unclear, though there are indications that one of the projects the studio was working on has been cancelled alongside this round of layoffs.

We’ve reached out to Sony and will update when we hear back. In the meantime, our very best goes out to those affected by this unfortunate news.

Source:IGN

#winning

Let me guess ... gow ascension didn't sell well.

The AAA industry is falling apart.

Best of luck to those who´ve been layed off.

DOOOOOOM

j/k

That sucks. Best of luck to the people who got laid off. Hopefully not too many people were.

Why would they move to a new, much bigger, studio if they're laying people off?

I read somewhere that it's sold close to 3 million already, so that's not it.

They've been on a hiring spree for ages, maybe they're just laying off the lesser devs to hire new talent from Irrational Games or something?

Because things change.

Santa Monica also works on small downloadable titles.

...

The indie industry is falling apart.