Bungie Hit With Layoffs - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 November 2023 / 7,204 Views
Bloomberg's Jason Schreier is reporting Destiny 2 developer Bungie has been hit with layoffs.
The number of staff to be laid off at the first-party PlayStation studio isn't known, but Bungie CEO Pete Parsons emailed employees this morning.
"Destiny 2 developer Bungie is the latest PlayStation studio to have layoffs," said Schreier. "Full scope isn't clear yet, but CEO Pete Parsons emailed the company this morning to say they'll be having a team meeting today to talk about 'some news today coming out of Bungie' as staff are informed."
Destiny 2 developer Bungie is the latest PlayStation studio to have layoffs. Full scope isn't clear yet, but CEO Pete Parsons emailed the company this morning to say they'll be having a team meeting today to talk about "some news today coming out of Bungie" as staff are informed
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 30, 2023
Destiny 2 Community Manager & Co-Lead of Accessibility at Bungie Liana Ruppert has confirmed the layoffs.
"Working in games when you have high anxiety during a mass layoff trend (across the whole industry) is panicking at every new meeting invite like 'is this the one where I lose everything' and that’s super fun," said Ruppert.
"Well... my heart is breaking for all affected I am now looking for opportunities. I have 21 years of games industry experience in media, production, and community management. I'm processing, I'm so heartbroken. I don't know what to do from here... this was my home. I feel so lost."
Well... my heart is breaking for all affected
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) October 30, 2023
I am now looking for opportunities. I have 21 years of games industry experience in media, production, and community management. I'm processing,I'm so heartbroken. I don't know what to do from here... this was my home. I feel so lost
Bungie Social Media lead Griffin Bennet has confirmed he has been laid off as well.
"I've been laid off from Bungie," said Bennet. "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."
I've been laid off from @Bungie. 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.
— Griffin Bennett (@GriffinWB) October 30, 2023
Thank you to everyone at Bungie who helped make my last 5+ years the best ever.
Multiple employees have also confirmed to have been laid off on LinkedIn.
"Like many other folks in the Gaming Industry, I was unfortunately let go due to a reduction of force today at Bungie," said Bungie Recruiter Austin Hayes. "During my 2 contract runs at Bungie I learned so much, and was able to expand my skillset tenfold. I loved the teams I got to work with, and maybe someday I'll be able to return once the industry takes a better turn."
Bungie Technical Recruiting Lead Amada R. stated, "It’s a strange feeling to wake up in the morning excited for the week ahead, only for your day to begin learning that you’ve been hit with a Reduction in Force and are now on the job hunt. I really loved my time at Bungie and in the gaming industry. I met some great people, learned a lot, and truly thought I found a home for the rest of my career."
Bungie Product Support Technician added, "Hey all, I was unfortunately hit by the the good ol' reduction of force that is currently being undergone at Bungie. I loved the time I spent there and owe a debt of gratitude to them for taking me on in April of 2022."
Senior Paralegal at Bungie Kaj Trapp said, "And just like that, my time at Bungie has come to an end. I felt extremely lucky the last several years to have witnessed the layoffs at my previous companies, knowing that Bungie was doing fine. But now it was Bungie's turn to have layoffs, sadly including me. I certainly valued my time with some of the most creative and brilliant minds I've ever worked with, and still have a sense of awe at having been in the room for our $3.6 billion acquisition by Sony. Now it's time for new adventures with a new company. That search starts now."
Sony announced its $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie in January 2022, which closed in July 2022. Bungie remains a multiplatform studio and will have an option "to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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As a longtime Destiny player, we all knew who dmg04 is. He tweeted this, "Getting texts from friends impacted by layoffs this morning. It is frustrating - infuriating even - to continue seeing people who strap in to do good work losing their financial security due to poor management. The continued echoes of poor decisions made that >feel< avoidable."
I wonder if he saw where the ship was sailing and partly why he left Bungie earlier this year.
As a longtime Halo player, Jason Jones was always a crap leader. Dude straight up left the studio when Halo 3 went into development and it's all still the same management. Hopefully Bungie is able to endure all this since they still have so many projects in the works and those affected are able to get back on their feet.
Every1 has layoff no new news here people
Never seen the gaming industry with this many layoffs, post covid impact?
Mismanagement is definitely playing a big part on top of post covid impact.
Sad to hear it, how much did Marathon reveal impacted on it?
Trailer had more views than the spiderman one if i remember, it was positive.
The most recent Destiny 2 expansion was VERY negatively received. So much so that a big part of the community considered it to be the worst DLC in Destiny's history which is.....saying a lot. Combo that with the huge amount of great games releasing this year, and Bungie could've brought in a lot less than they ordinarily would have.
I think this have more to do with the current state of Destiny 2, the active user count is about half of what it was a year ago.
Isnt the last expansion the end of destiny 2?
Their next one set to release in early 2024 is.
I see, so a faltering userbase and setbacks on release schedule, at least it's not without explication yet, this makes me questions the current state of PlayStation push for GaaS. I though of Bungie and it's acquisition by Sony as their flag-bearer for that push, wonder if it's a sign PlayStation is about to re-scope their strategy with Ryan leaving.
I've seen a couple of tweets from the Writing and Producing roles that have been laid off as well.
Also, Sony can't do much when it comes to those roles anyway as Bungie is a limited integrated company. They still have to manage everything on their own that Sony can't simply just provide.
Perhaps Bungie independence will be more on how to make the game and game to make, but bureaucratic functions will be reduced on redundancy.
They said it the last of the first arc of Destiny 2, so presumably that means there are further story arcs to come.
Could there also be an element of getting rid of the made up woke positions, that some media companies are going through right now? All the bullshit that has nothing to do with actually developing or publishing games. I mean Bungie just recently went through the LatinX debacle, where they managed to piss of Latin American people while trying to pander to them.
There also one, no matter what forum I read, there is always one.
