London - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe may lay off up to 160 of its 1,900 or so employees, as part of a cost-cutting initiative, GamesIndustry.biz reported.

An internal letter from SCEE CEO David Reeves, obtained by GamesIndustry.biz, which was read aloud at meetings on Monday stated, "SCEE has successfully faced a number of challenges throughout its history to become a leader of the videogame industry. However our industry is in the middle of a transition where some of the fundamentals of our business are changing."

"The management of the company has concluded that we need to change our structure, streamline and strengthen our business operations -- and that our cost base needs to be significantly reduced."

The company plans to notify staff this week whether they are at risk of redundancy, then hold individual consultations with them to discuss "ways to avoid or reduce the number of people who are likely to be made redundant, and ways to mitigate the effects of any redundancies."

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