Bungie is laying off a number of staffers and delaying two of its forthcoming titles: Marathon and Destiny 2’s forthcoming expansion, The Final Shape. The layoffs are reportedly part of ongoing cuts within Sony’s PlayStation division. There’s no clarity on the number of staffers who have been fired but ex-Bungie employees have begun posting on social media about the layoffs.
Sony purchased Bungie last year for $3.6 billion and it was reported in July last year that Bungie has ramped up hiring for Destiny. It has recently been revealed that While Marathon is expected to launch in 2025, The Final Shape is now expected to launch in June 2024.
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Bungie Fires Multiple Staffers Despite 'No Layoffs' Promise
Days after the acquisition Bungie leadership had reportedly informed staff there would no “absolutely no layoffs” as a result of the acquisition. Sony had also announced that it intended to spend $1.2 billion on employee retention. The news of the layoffs comes come just a week after PlayStation's head of internal game production Connie Booth departed from Sony, reportedly due to Son'y's struggling pivot on games as a service (GaaS).
"Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote on X.
"What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.”
The full scope of the Bungie layoffs isn't clear yet since there's no official confirmation on the percentage of people who have been fired. Journalist Jason Schreier confirmed that Bungie 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’.”
Liana Ruppert, a Destiny 2 community manager shared on X that she has been let go and is looking for work. "I’m so heartbroken,” she said. “I don’t know what to do from here… this was my home. I feel so lost”
The year has been a difficult one for workers in the gaming community. Epic Games cut about 830 jobs (approximately per cent of its workforce), in September. The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog also reportedly cut contractor jobs earlier this month and Niantic laid off 230 staffers and shut down other games to focus on Pokémon Go.