It reportedly didn’t matter if Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion was a “hit,” Bungie’s recent layoffs happened before launch and “were inevitable,” even if the highly-hyped, highly-received DLC went on to become a runaway commercial success.
This follows from Stephen Totilo’s report Game filewhich cites multiple sources who said this year’s round of cuts was already planned for early 2024. The cuts resulted in 220 Bungie employees being laid off, with more roles being reassigned to both Sony Interactive Entertainment and a fresh PlayStation studio that is developing Bungie’s “incubator project.”
Manage your cookie settings
The report quotes an anonymous former Bungie employee who says that if the studio had not been acquired by Sony in 2022, “the alternative history is insolvency.” It claims that Bungie has repeatedly failed to meet financial targets set by Sony, leading to its executives having to conclude last year — apparently putting the studio’s autonomy on the line — that it would “make deep cuts to show Sony executives that it is taking its finances seriously.”
These cuts have now come in two batches, with the latest coming after those that occurred in behind schedule October 2023. The report states that the studio has been losing money since the release of Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion in February 2023.
“I think Sony overpaid for Bungie,” one former employee told Totilo. “I think Bungie sold things they just couldn’t deliver.” The views of developers quoted in the report, more disappointed with Bungie’s management for the studio’s situation than Sony, seem to echo the sentiments expressed by former employees on social media following the recent announcement of layoffs, with CEO Pete Parsons receiving calls to resign.
For now, the remaining Bungie employees intend to focus their efforts solely on Destiny 2 and Marathon; news of a change in director for the latter title surfaced in March of this year.
