Denver IT Jobs Lost as SOE Closes Local Office

Some Denver IT jobs (Click here) could be lost as a popular gaming company closes its local office.

Sony Online Entertainment recently announced that it will close the company's game development studios in Denver, Seattle, and Tucson. The studios are being closed in an effort to reduce costs and streamline the company's global workforce.

A total of 205 jobs will be lost during the process, although the company has yet to say how many of those positions are in Denver, according to the Denver Business Journal. The local studio, which develops online digital property and role-playing games, has been in business for 10 years.

The job losses shouldn't have a huge affect on the statewide or local economies, both of which are continuing to recover on a monthly and yearly basis from the economic recession.

During March, Colorado's unemployment rate dropped from 9.3 percent to 9.2 percent, which is only slightly higher than the national average of 8.8 percent. Denver had an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent during February.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Colorado employed a total of 2,228,200 workers during March, which is up from 2,227,700 workers during February and a .5 percent increase from last year.

Employment in the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area came in at about 1,184,600 workers during March, which is up from 1,176,000 workers during February and a .9 percent increase from last year.

SOE employs about 700 people nationwide. The company claims that the job cuts and closures of its game development studios will not impact players wishing to access the company's wide array of live games.

"This strategic decision will have no impact on SOE's current portfolio of live games," company officials said in a statement. "This strategic alignment of development resources better positions SOE to remain a global leader in online gaming and deliver on its promise of creating entertaining games for players of all ages, and servicing the 20 million players that visited SOE servers in just the past year."