Following the news that Sony is looking to cut 8000 jobs before April to save the company some £740 million, SCEE president David Reeves has assured that this cut in staff will not affect the Playstation Division.

"We're certainly not planning to cut back in personnel at all. Half of our personnel are in the development of the games, that's an investment. We're not scaling down at all," Reeves explained to Dutch TV broadcaster RTL.

To bring further reassurance, Reeves added that Sony’s current projects were, to his knowledge, not going to see a cut in investment either. “Sony live and die on the innovative projects they bring out,” he added.

"In our division we're still continuing to develop the products which we put in our mid-range plan six months ago, one year ago. As long as we plan prudently, I think we will be fine. We have a good business model. People will continue to buy the hardware, continue to buy the software. I'm convinced of it."

Speaking of the broader issue of the global economic concerns, Reeves was realistic: “[The videogame industry is] not recession proof. I don't think any industry is and eventually we may see a downturn. For the moment, we're seeing our sales of both hardware and software are hitting projects in most countries in Europe."

Meanwhile, Reeves could not quite put his finger on why videogames are still selling well at a time when consumers are – generally – being more cautious with their purchasing powers: “[It's] difficult to explain, it could be that parents don't want to disappoint their children in buying PlayStation's, or whether it's the competition as well. Or maybe it that people are spending more time at home and this is a safe haven.”