Staff cuts are never good news…
Bungie, the Sony-owned game company behind Destiny 2, recently let go of an undisclosed number of staff members as part of a larger restructuring inside the Japanese gaming behemoth’s operations.
Following Bungie’s original announcement of layoffs, a later Bloomberg story revealed that the decision was made to cut about 100 people. This represents about 8% of all the employees at the PlayStation-owned studio.
Executives revealed a few weeks ago at a meeting that Bungie’s annual income was supposedly 45% less than anticipated. After the introduction of the Lightfall update, gamers have found it difficult to stick around in Destiny 2. The following expansion, “The Final Shape,” which was supposed to be released in February but was postponed until June of the following year.
Bungie Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons stated on Twitter/X:
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio.”
Employees who have been laid off are set to receive “at least three months of severance and three months of Bungie-paid”. However, it’s worth noting that other benefits for these individuals reportedly ceased as of Monday.
The original news came from Bloomberg and was according to “people with knowledge of the matter”.
The source has obtained an email from Bungie’s Chief Executive Officer, Pete Parsons, in which he notified the studio’s employees that they would be “hearing some news today” and that a team meeting would be convened afterward.
In early 2022, Sony acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion and has since been implementing staff reductions within its PlayStation division in 2023, primarily due to delays. The division has witnessed the departure of several influential producers this year, and it was also announced last month that PlayStation’s CEO, Jim Ryan, is set to retire in March.
In 2023, thousands of video game industry employees have faced layoffs as companies seek to reduce expenses, despite a year filled with successful releases. Just last month, Epic Games made workforce reductions of approximately 900 employees.
This trend of staff reductions appears to be widespread in the gaming industry, and only time will reveal the full extent of its impact. We will continue to provide you with the most up-to-date news on this matter.