Asmongold Sucker Punch Layoffs Controversy Explained After Ghost Of Yotei Studio Cuts 26 Jobs

Asmongold reacts to the layoffs at Sucker Punch Productions.© NDTV library

Asmongold has weighed in on the layoffs at Sucker Punch Productions, the Sony-owned studio behind Ghost of Yotei, after a former employee said 26 people had been let go. It's a strange time for cuts, with the game past five million copies sold. Asmongold read the news out on a recent livestream and didn't think the studio was telling the whole story. "I think that AI absolutely plays a huge role in this," he said, and then laid out why he thinks studios won't need as many artists going forward.

Asmongold thinks AI probably played a massive role in this after reacting to Sucker Punch Productions laying off 26 employees, according to a former employee ???????? “I think that AI absolutely plays a huge role in this. And why would you hire five artists if you could have three artists do this work with AI and then cut the other two artists out? Why would you realistically have two people sitting there that you could just fire and have some other person? And also the two people who you're firing are the least qualified and the least competent. So you have the situation where AI gives you the ability to empower and I don't know but you know in video games where you can sacrifice your armour to make your existing armour even better. That's basically what they're doing”

— Prism (@fwprism) October 27, 2026

Why the Sucker Punch layoffs surprised Ghost of Yotei fans

Sucker Punch is the Bellevue, Washington, team behind Infamous and Ghost of Tsushima. Its follow-up, Ghost of Yotei, came out in October 2025 and became one of PlayStation's biggest releases of the year.

Players expected a studio in that position to grow. Instead, a former employee revealed that 26 jobs were gone, out of a staff of roughly 229.

What the Sucker Punch email said

Leadership broke the news to staff in an internal email. The cuts came "after carefully observing the challenges in the market and reviewing the team needs for our next project," it read, adding that "several positions across Sucker Punch will be eliminated as a result."

Staff were told they'd hear more about the studio's future the following week. The next game hasn't been announced, and the email didn't say which roles were cut. It didn't mention AI either.

Asmongold gives his own explanation for the Sucker Punch cuts

Asmongold read it differently. For him, it comes down to how many people a studio actually needs once AI is part of the work. He started with an art team. "Why would you hire five artists if you could have three artists do this work with AI and then cut the other two artists out?" he asked.

Then he pushed it a step further. "Why would you realistically have two people sitting there that you could just fire and have some other person?" Asmongold said, adding that the two who get cut are usually "the least qualified and the least competent."

He finished with a gaming comparison his chat would get straight away. "So you have the situation where AI gives you the ability to empower," he said, likening it to games "where you can sacrifice your armour to make your existing armour even better."

"That's basically what they're doing." Sony and Sucker Punch haven't tied the layoffs to AI. Asmongold made the comments while going through posts about the cuts on X during his stream, as news of the 26 job losses spread among PlayStation fans.