Despite releasing one of the year’s most critically acclaimed expansions, Destiny 2’s The Final Shape, it’s been a rough year for Bungie. Last October, the developer laid off roughly 100 people, equating to approximately 8% of it’s workforce. Earlier this week, the studio let go another 220–a shockingly high 17% of its workforce–while also relocating 12% of its remaining staff to its parent company, Sony.
Bungie executive Pete Parsons cited “rising costs of development,” “industry shifts,” and “enduring economic conditions” as the reason for the mass layoffs, which impacted “most” of Bungie’s executive and senior leader positions. Considering this loss of leadership, it comes as no surprise then that the studio is entering what the executive refers to as a time of “tremendous change.” And as for the mass transfer of former Bungie employees to Sony, Parsons’ explained the move aims to “deepen” Bungie’s integration with the company–a statement that has raised more than a few eyebrows.
Though it’s easy to see these layoffs as merely the latest in a series’ of widespread job losses in the industry, it also showcases the trend of large corporations acquiring well-known developers and how it ultimately leads to significant changes in staffing, priorities, and, potentially, identity. This week on Spot On, Tam and Lucy discuss the impact of these layoffs and what it means for the future of Destiny 2, Marathon, and Bungie as a whole.
Spot On is GameSpot’s weekly news show in which managing editor Tamoor Hussain and senior producer Lucy James talk about the latest game news. Given the massive video game industry’s highly dynamic and never-ending news cycle, there’s always something to talk about. Unlike most news shows, Spot On will dive deep into a single topic instead of recapping all the news. Spot On airs each Friday.
