Following a controversial email last week, in which PlayStation boss Jim Ryan asked staff to “respect differences of opinion” on abortion rights, a new report has claimed Sony is currently refusing to approve any statements its PlayStation studios might want to make on the topic of reproductive rights in response to the US Supreme Court’s proposal to reverse the ruling of Roe v Wade, with Insomniac head Ted Price going as far as to tell staff he believed there would be “material repercussions” if it went against Sony’s wishes.
According to a new report by The Washington Post, Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac, which was acquired by Sony in 2020, had made the decision to donate $50,000 USD to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP) following the US Supreme Court’s recent proposal to reverse Roe v Wade, a key judgement which legalised abortion across the country – a donation Sony has agreed to match, along with any additional donations from staff, as part of company’s “PlayStation Cares” programme.
However, according to the Washington Post, Sony won’t authorise any public statement Insomniac might want to make about reproductive rights or its donation, and staff have been expressly forbidden from mentioning either Sony or Insomniac in any retweet should the WRRAP choose to make an announcement about the donation. “[Sony Interactive Entertainment] will not approve ANY statements from any studio on the topic of reproductive rights,” Insomniac head Ted Price told studio employees in an email dated 13th May. “We fought hard for this and we did not win.”
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