The recession is finally starting to catch up with the video game industry: Midway closed studios and was sold to Warner Bros. for a few shekels, software sales have slumped for the past few months, and there are layoffs left and right. Even though Free Realms is highly successful, Sony Online Entertainment today issued a statement that it had to lay off 41 people (5% of its workforce). "SOE looks forward to continuing its leadership role in the online games industry as it celebrates the highly successful launch of Free Realms, the 10-year commemoration of its ground-breaking EverQuest franchise, and the continued performance of the company's other games."