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    PlayStation Reviews

    Updated 8 November 2018
    606 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.5
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    PlayStation President and Chief Executive Officer John Kodera
    John Kodera
    38 Ratings

    606 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "Relaxed environment with great work-life balance" (in 57 reviews)

    • "Casual work environment , but not inappropriate behavior" (in 44 reviews)

    Cons

    • "Work/life balance is a struggle" (in 20 reviews)

    • "senior management is incentivized to prioritize department performance over overall business performance" (in 26 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Great place to work but not a great deal of opportunity to progress"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      Pros

      Great people, culture and generally a fun place to work

      Cons

      Not a lot of opportunity to progress and can end up pigeon holed in the industry. Generally systems and technology aren't at the level you would expect. Salaries and packages aren't at the level you would expect

      Advice to Management

      More attractive salaries and more opportunities to grow in the business would help retain staff

    2. "Challenging & Frustrating"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at PlayStation full-time

      Pros

      Amazing products, world renown brand, great culture, fantastic people, great office location, constantly changing landscape.

      Cons

      There is a real lack of real leadership with constant changes in direction and strategy. Senior management tends to micromanage and does not allow staff to make critical decisions. Everything was run by committee having to go through 3 or 4 people to get a decision made.

      Advice to Management

      Stop micro-managing people and empower them to make decisions that they are employed to make.

      3. Join the PlayStation team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. Helpful (1)

      "Great gamer culture, great growth opportunities, some shortcomings"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Product Manager in San Francisco, CA (US)
      Current Employee - Product Manager in San Francisco, CA (US)
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at PlayStation full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      - Great educational, medical and transportation perks
      - Great bonuses and employee discounts on PlayStation and Sony products
      - Lots of opportunities to travel overseas, particularly to Tokyo or London
      - Supportive leadership that lets employees explore different career paths and grow
      - Passionate coworkers who love gaming and are really into what they are doing
      - A low-conflict environment with a strong drive for consensus and respect
      - Agile development practices with continuous improvement, hackathons and quick adjustments based on lessons learned
      - Work from home opportunities in the U.S. and management focused on results, not attendance
      - A quirky and creative environment typical of the gaming industry
      - A company that encourages playing games at work
      - A very approachable CEO and most other top leaders
      - Lots of women in leadership positions, even in Japan (mostly up to Sr. Director level but also some VPs)

      Cons

      - Incompetence is sometimes tolerated indefinitely, true to the life-employment model of Japan
      - Managers frequently lack the most fundamental people management skills and don't know how to motivate their employees
      - Lack of open conflict leads to a lot of back-channeling, politics and having to read between the lines
      - In the Tokyo office, expectations about work hours are insane and no one can work from home, which leads to female workers still largely being forced to choose between having career success and being single, or having a decent but unimpressive job at PlayStation and having a family
      - The super-Agile style of the San Fransisco office frequently clashes with the Waterfall thinking of Tokyo
      - As of 2018, analytics is still not a big part of decision making and a lot of product managers are weak
      - Employee performance management is unpredictable and convoluted. There are no company-wide OKRs and it's hard to understand how performance goals are measured

      Advice to Management

      Focus on training your managers in people management skills, particularly if they manage people from different work cultures. Normalize work expectations across different regional offices to reduce bias, such as "everyone in San Francisco is lazy". Raise the bar for the Product Management organization and train your PdMs to be true product leaders. Stop protecting poor performers just because they have been with the company for a long time - it's bad for everyone's morale. Make VPs and Sr. Directors get out of their offices and talk to each other and their teams - they are not on the same page most of the time. Reduce hierarchical and cocky behavior in the London office, which is contrary to the spirit of PlayStation.

    4. "Product Marketing Manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at PlayStation full-time

      Pros

      Good facilities (gym is great)

      Cons

      Doesn't have a strong organizational culture

    5. Helpful (1)

      "Nice People, Poor Pay"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Senior Sound Designer in London, England (UK)
      Former Employee - Senior Sound Designer in London, England (UK)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at PlayStation full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Good people, occasional paid trips if you're in the right department, good benefits such as pension and travel allowance, the prestige of being able to say you work for Playstation

      Cons

      Poor pay, too many middle managers who contribute very little, poor facilities and tools to do the job, people held back in their careers and not given the chance to grow. I was also aware of female members of staff being paid less than their male counterparts, however I'm not sure how widespread across the company this was.

      Advice to Management

      Cut out the middle management that don't do much and invest more in the people who do the work. Pay people better and give an opportunity for people to progress in their careers without going into management.

    6. "Great people and product"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at PlayStation full-time

      Pros

      - People love the products, the PS4 in particular
      - Colleagues are great and fun
      - Good parties
      - Cool brand to work for

      Cons

      - Politics between EMEA and US especially
      - People in leadership have been there a long time and can be conservative
      - Sony getting involved more which means the brand is a bit less cool

      Advice to Management

      Promote people more, pay more and you'll keep people longer .

    7. "General Manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I worked at PlayStation full-time

      Pros

      challenging job and big responsibility is given.

      Cons

      work life time balance could be cons.

    8. "A dynamic and exciting time at PlayStation"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at PlayStation full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      We make video games for a living!
      Fun place to work
      PlayStation is highly respected in the industry
      Much of the work is cutting edge
      Diverse and respectful workplace

      Cons

      Can sometimes be quite corporate although that goes with the territory of being a large global company

      Advice to Management

      Communicate more openly

    9. "Great bunch of people let down by management"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in London, England (UK)
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in London, England (UK)
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at PlayStation full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      The people working around the clock trying to make things happen

      Cons

      The higher ups with a no risk approach letting down the potential this studio can output

      Advice to Management

      Take more risks, spend more time developing new ideas before making a no risk decision

    10. "Solid"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at PlayStation full-time

      Pros

      Smart colleagues, great strategists and fun place to work

      Cons

      Consensus culture that may slow down speed to market.

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