Destiny and former Halo developer Bungie is the latest game studio to be impacted by layoffs.
A report by Bloomberg revealed that CEO Pete Parsons sent a company-wide email informing staff of a meeting today, and news regarding layoffs soon followed. The number of staff affected by cutbacks is currently unknown.
Among those affected was Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert, who also worked as an accessibility co-lead. “Well… my heart is breaking for all affected” Ruppert wrote in a post on Twitter/X. “I’m processing, I’m so heartbroken. I don’t know what to do from here… this was my home.
“I feel so lost.”
Another member of staff affected by layoffs was social media lead Griffin Bennett, who had been with Bungie for over five years.
“I’ve been laid off from Bungie,” Bennett said. “A surreal thing to write as I sit here pondering what went wrong. I’m still processing it all and while my first instinct is anger I know I’d regret what I’d say.
“Thank you to everyone at Bungie who helped make my last 5+ years the best ever.
Bennett continued: “I was born and raised in Bellevue. Bungie was my “home team” studio. It was honor to work there.
“This one stings.”
Bungie was acquired by Sony last year for $3.6 billion, with Sony having set aside $1.2 billion for employee retention initiatives. When the acquisition was made, Bungie leadership assured staff they would not be subjected to layoffs.
Today’s news follows a wave of cutbacks across various PlayStation studios, with Naughty Dog, Media Molecule and PlayStation’s Visual Arts Group all having been affected within the last month.
Sadly, the issue has been more widespread within the games industry this year, with studios such as Bioware, CD Projekt, Epic Games and Xbox all having been impacted by cutbacks.
[…] studios. In October 2023 alone, at least 25 staff at Naughty Dog, 15-20% of Media Molecule, and around 100 Bungie employees were let […]
[…] In a post titled “The New Path for Bungie”, the Destiny developer cited “rising costs of development and industry shifts” as some of the reasons behind what it describes as “a time of tremendous change for our studio.” This is the second round of layoffs the developer has made in less than a year, having laid off roughly 100 staff back in October 2023. […]