Former Bungie developers are speaking out about the problems Bungie is facing internally, and all signs point to leadership and structural issues following Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, and a human resources department, or at least, a single member of that department, covering up internal issues of harassment for personal gain on their exit from the studio.
Internal issues at Bungie, unfortunately, aren’t anything new, but this latest slew of details comes from Destin Legarie, who published a video on his YouTube channel after speaking to former Bungie developers. Many of the comments are quite damning, and paint the picture of a Bungie that is not the same studio it once was when every first-person shooter fan on the planet couldn’t wait to see what they would do next.
No direct names were mentioned in the video as to who the former Bungie employees were calling out, everything was kept in more general terms with just the word ‘leadership’ being used to represent Bungie’s top brass.
All of this came about after Bungie was caught using artwork and/or art assets from another artist without their permission or crediting them for the fourth time in recent years.
“Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed,” a former Bungie developer told Legarie. Another quote went further, saying “Bungie’s problem stem from a lack of player empathy, disconnected leadership, and a corporate-first culture.“
Another quote reads “Internal language shifted from ‘studio,’ ‘games,’ and ‘players,’ to ‘company,’ ‘product,’ and ‘customers,’ during the Sony acquisition,” highlighting how the studio has seemingly shifted its viewpoint that making good games for players to enjoy is no longer the ultimate goal, and is instead making games that make as much money as possible.
There have been negative stories about internal problems at the Destiny 2 developer for the past couple of years, and morale certainly can’t be helped by the layoffs the studio has suffered. All of leadership might be part of the problem, which is what seems to be the speculation in this video, but as Legarie points out, the buck has to stop somewhere, and in the case of Bungie, that’s with chief executive officer Pete Parsons.
It’s extremely unfortunate that the studio behind Halo and Destiny, two of the biggest shooter franchises in video game history, is facing all of this, and could see its end due to its allegedly greedy and inconsiderate leaders who have lost the plot, and the fact that if not for the studio making games that people wanted to play in the first place, none of them would be where they are.
