Bungie's layoffs affected 8% of the studio's staff, or about 100 people, according to Bloomberg and IGN sources. According to their information, the cuts took place against the background of serious problems with Destiny 2.
What the sources of the publications found out:
Two weeks ago, at a meeting with employees, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced that Destiny 2's annual revenue was 45% below forecasts.
▫️According to Parsons, Destiny 2 has plummeted in popularity. After the release of the Lightfall add-on, the level of player retention decreased.
▫️Now the mood of Destiny 2 users is at an all-time low. Bungie employees have repeatedly reported this to management and wanted to make changes to the game.
▫️Pre-orders of The Final Shape expansion did not meet the expectations of the studio.
▫️The Final Shape is well appreciated inside the studio, but they believe that the quality of the supplement can be improved. Its release was postponed from February to June 2024.
According to IGN sources, the layoffs at Bungie are the initiative of the studio itself, not Sony's gaming division. Bloomberg sources, on the contrary, say that the studio was affected by the PlayStation restructuring.
▫️The cuts were made in the departments of testing, development, technical support, HR, design and many others. Some of the tasks will be outsourced.
Bungie's management tried to hide the scale of layoffs from employees.
▫️The dismissed will be paid a three-month severance pay. However, they will lose all Bungie shares that they received before the sale of the Sony studio. Former employees would have been paid for these shares if they had worked at Bungie for a certain number of years.
Bungie is cutting costs. For example, for business trips and salary increases. It also freezes the hiring of employees.