The award-winning studio behind Destiny 2 has become the latest game developer to lay off staff, and is one of many PlayStation-owned studios to do so in recent months according to Jason Schreier. The exact number of employees losing their jobs at Bungie is currently unknown.
In posts shared to Twitter, Schreier revealed that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons had sent a company-wide email promising team meetings for staff to talk about the "news today coming out of Bungie". The news comes as the studio has been hard at work updating Destiny 2, and has had a knock-on effect; the game's next expansion, The Final Shape, will be now be launching in June 2024.
Fans of the studio that were looking forward to their next title, Marathon, have a long wait ahead of them as it reportedly has its launch delayed to 2025. Bungie's situation is not unique, as recent weeks have seen other large PlayStation studios such as Naughty Dog laying off numerous contractors while LittleBigPlanet developers Media Molecule let go of several staff.
Bungie was acquired by PlayStation for $3.6 billion in 2022, one of many acquisitions that will hopefully keep PlayStation competitive as Activision Blizzard is acquired by Microsoft. The layoffs may be a side effect of unsustainable hiring practices, or the actions of a parent company trying to stay lean in preparation for the uncertain months ahead.
Our thoughts are with the workers affected, both the groups losing their jobs and the remaining employees that will no doubt be harassed by clueless (yet still furious) Destiny fans. Here's hoping that everyone impacted can land on their feet and get back to what they love doing as soon as possible.