Sony’s studios are facing yet another round of job cuts, and this time, Bungie is feeling the impact. Reports suggest that Bungie has been grappling to maintain its stability amid the dwindling popularity of its flagship title, Destiny 2.
According to reports, Bungie held an internal town hall meeting with staff to address a round of layoffs that impacted several departments. Bungie CEO Pete Parsons purportedly told employees that the studio has kept “the right people” to continue the development of Destiny 2.
The layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg, affected around 100 employees or 8% of the company’s total workforce. The recent round of job cuts are part of Sony’s restructuring within the PlayStation division. Staff members affected by the layoffs have taken to social media to share that they have been let go and to look for other employment opportunities.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” Parsons tweeted. “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.”
Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio. 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.
— pete parsons (@pparsons) October 30, 2023
The job cuts come several weeks after a meeting in which Bungie execs reported that Bungie’s revenue missed internal projections by as much as 45%. Parsons allegedly blamed Lightfall, Destiny 2’s most recent expansion, for the studio missing its revenue targets. The popular FPS has reportedly had a massive drop in players after the release of the Lightfall expansion. Lightfall, meant to deliver the climax to the Destiny 2 story arc, was poorly received by longtime players. Many criticized the expansion for failing to deliver substantial additions to the story and engaging content for players.
Missing 45% of its revenue target is not small change considering Sony purchased Bungie last year for $3.7 billion. The studio is meant to lead the way for Sony’s continuing ambitions to offer more live service games to its player base. With Bungie’s failure to keep gamers interested in its flagship IP, it would be hard for Sony to justify keeping such a large workforce on its payroll.
As a result of the layoffs, Bungie is delaying Marathon and Destiny 2: The Final Shape. The former is a new extraction-based shooter that was just recently announced. The latter is the final expansion for Destiny 2 which is meant to conclude the current story arc.
Bungie is the latest in a long line of studios and publishers to implement job cuts this year. We recently reported that a fellow PlayStation studio, the Visual Arts Group also had to let go of some of its employees. This follows a recent trend within PlayStation Studios and the larger gaming industry where companies are cutting jobs to lower operating costs.
Epic Games recently cut 870 jobs while CD Projekt Red had a series of three consecutive layoffs resulting in employee unionization. Bethesda, 343 Industries, and Xbox were also included in Microsoft’s massive job cuts at the beginning of the year. EA also had to let go of 6% of its workforce as it underwent restructuring.
Most companies are citing uncertain market conditions and overstaffing during the pandemic as reasons for the job cuts. Other companies like the Embracer Group was forced to undergo restructuring as a result of a botched deal.
