Bungie has announced that it will be laying off 220 staff, approximately 17% of the studio’s headcount.
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.
“Today is a difficult and painful day, especially for our departing colleagues, all of which have made important and valuable contributions to Bungie,” said Pete Parsons, CEO of Bungie. “Our goal is to support them with the utmost care and respect.”
“For everyone affected by this job reduction, we will be offering a generous exit package, including severance, bonus and health coverage.”
Bungie also announced that it is committing to two significant changes to the studio’s structure moving forward.
“First, we are deepening our integration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, working to integrate 155 of our roles, roughly 12%, into SIE over the next few quarters,” said Parsons. “SIE has worked tirelessly with us to identify roles for as many of our people as possible, enabling us together to save a great deal of talent that would otherwise have been affected by the reduction in force.”
Parsons also revealed that a new game set in a “brand-new science-fantasy universe” is currently in development, with a team of Bungie staff moving to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios.
“Second, we are working with PlayStation Studios leadership to spin out one of our incubation projects – an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe – to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios to continue its promising development.”
The Destiny and former Halo developer was acquired by Sony in 2022 for $3.6 billion, as the PlayStation maker looked to strengthen its live-service capabilities.
The post concluded with Parsons reassuring fans that the remaining 850 staff were continuing work on both Destiny and Marathon, with the latter currently set to release sometime in 2025.