Sony (NYSE: SNE) may be laying off 8,000 staff globally by 2010, and terminating as many as 8,000 casual and temporary staff, but workers in its Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Division can rest easy—for now. Division president David Reeves has told Dutch TV station RTL (via gamesindustry.biz) “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,” He says things are going well for Sony’s games products, but admits the sector is not recession-proof. “I don’t think any industry is and eventually we may see a downturn,” he says. “For the moment, we’re seeing our sales of both hardware and software are hitting projects in most countries in Europe.”

SEE ALSO: Sony Axes 8,000 Jobs Worldwide; Cuts Production, Investment to Save $1 Billion By 2010

It’s a different story for US games developer Midway which according to Variety.com is laying off 180 staff, a quarter of its workforce, to meet debt payments of $150 million.