Today, Destiny creator Bungie announced another massive round of layoffs following months of internal turmoil and the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Bungie Blog PostCEO Pete Parsons announced that 220 positions, or 17% of Bungie’s workforce, were being eliminated due to “financial challenges.”
In the wake of these layoffs, many employees who lost their jobs (as well as others in the gaming industry) took to social media to share their concerns and criticism of Bungie’s management, many of whom even demanded that Parsons resign.
While there were reportedly concerns about layoffs at the studio, multiple employees expressed that their own layoffs were unexpected due to recent actions taken by leaders at Bungie. One music designer shared that he was assured he was needed, but was let go today. “There was nothing I could do to avoid being let go,” they wrote.
looks like I got my ass kicked. I WORK A LOT and I’m fascinated by it, everyone knows it. I couldn’t do anything to avoid being fired. In fact, I worked so much that many people told me “you’ll be fine, you have to train/manage outsourcing” https://t.co/lLZ4piq9bB
— Nadia Nadia (@nadiaudio) July 31, 2024
Another employee reported that she was fired just one month after being promoted.
Last month I didn’t even tweet that I got promoted, but now I can tweet that I got fired, so that’s something. I’m going to miss my team. https://t.co/4OE6R3dclt
— beau (she/her) (@BeauOckers) July 31, 2024
Meanwhile, Bungie employees who were not affected by the layoffs also posted support for their former coworkers. Bungie’s global community lead, known online as dmg04, called the layoffs “inexcusable.” “The responsibility falls on the employees who repeatedly put themselves under pressure to deliver for our community,” he wrote.
Unforgivable. Industry-leading talent is lost again. Responsibility falls on employees who have repeatedly pushed to deliver for our community.
Please focus on those who have lost their jobs and income. Offer assist where you can. https://t.co/SSDveUd5uW
— dmg04 (@A_dmg04) July 31, 2024
The player support team was also ruined, as were some of the people behind the most beloved narrative moments and sounds. The player support team worked harder than anyone else, weekends – holidays – and the pay was terrible… just for those who got kicked out so LY could get… https://t.co/z2XveKAjay
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) July 31, 2024
my entire team left.
— ☾ Alexandra, alexthegr8r on bsky (@_AlexTheGr8r_) July 31, 2024
Across the gaming industry, others have criticized Bungie’s management, with many in the Destiny 2 community attributing the layoffs to destitute decisions made by management. YouTuber My name is Byf, a Destiny 2 story creator, said Bungie is “being careless with the studio, its employees, and its franchises. The problem is clear. Bad management. It needs to change.”
Leadership needs to change.
Their decisions have always led to disaster for everyone who made the games we play.
They were reckless towards the studio, its employees, and its franchises.
The problem is clear. Bad leadership. This needs to change. https://t.co/ga01igprSl photo: twitter.com/lQhmkUIzgw
— My name is Byf (Lore Daddy) (@MyNameIsByf) July 31, 2024
Pete is a joke. https://t.co/TtFtEzS0gF
— Griffin Bennett (@GriffinWB) July 31, 2024
Others, including former Bungie employees, have called for Parsons’s salary to be cut or he to resign.
Get out of the way, Pete. https://t.co/I5d7L8kcfq
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) July 31, 2024
Calls for Parsons to step down have been further fueled by revelations from several fans about what It appears that his account on car auction site Bring A Trailer. One player has collected Spreadsheet showing off his car purchases, which show he’s spent around $500,000 on vintage cars since Bungie’s last round of layoffs in October.
Bungie lays off 17% of its employees… unrelated, here’s a list of cars the CEO bought on BAT
Players and staff need to support each other.https://t.co/48qToI4Cf7
— CUSTOMIZED (@boxrTailored) July 31, 2024
The layoff announcement, along with calls for Parsons’ resignation, comes less than two months after Bungie released Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which concludes the game’s story and was well-received by players despite a few launch hiccups. Shortly after The Final Shape released, Bungie also announced Codename Frontiers, a mysterious recent update scheduled to release in 2025. Bungie is also working on a Marathon revival, which will be the first entry in the series since 1996.
However, despite a slew of upcoming projects and well-received recent titles, Bungie has been in turmoil for months. In October, Bungie was hit with a smaller, yet significant, round of layoffs, which were reportedly due to the destitute performance of Destiny 2. That round of layoffs led to delays for The Final Shape, as well as Marathon, which did not receive an official release window but were reportedly internally delayed from 2024 to 2025.
Following the October layoffs, one Bungie developer described the studio’s morale as “soul-crushing”, and other developers described growing fears of further cost-cutting, as well as a complete Sony takeover. Months later, in March, Bungie replaced Marathon’s director amid internal pressure to release the game.
Following the Marathon director change, a source with knowledge of Bungie’s budget told IGN that “something will have to be done to contain costs unless The Final Shape does a good enough job of covering the gap and people can move over to Marathon,” referring to fears of another wave of layoffs following The Final Shape’s launch — the layoffs that took place today.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve worked with sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun, and recently released a game called Garage sale. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.