Bungie, the Sony-owned studio behind Halo and Destiny, has been hit with layoffs. The company announced yesterday that it would lay off around 220 staff or 17% of its overal work force, citing “rising costs of development and industry shifts” as the reason behind the mass job terminations. Since the news broke out, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons has come under scrutiny with his leadership being brought into question, even by former employees who are calling for him to step down.
Pete Parsons published a letter yesterday addressing the layoffs at Bungie, stating, “First, we are deepening our integration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, working to integrate 155 of our roles, roughly 12%, into SIE over the next few quarters.” Parsons mentions that many roles at Bungie that otherwise would’ve been affected by the layoffs are in the process of being moved over to Sony Interactive Entertainment. Unfortunately, 220 people were still let go from the company.
Parsons later adds that Bungie has established a new studio under PlayStation Studios to work on a new sci-fi action game:
“Second, we are working with PlayStation Studios leadership to spin out one of our incubation projects – an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe – to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios to continue its promising development.”
“For everyone affected by this job reduction, we will be offering a generous exit package, including severance, bonus and health coverage,” the letter concluded.
The Bungie CEO has come under scrutiny from the community and former employees after it was discovered that he had reportedly spent $2.3 million on cars after the Sony acquisition. Liana Ruppert, a former employee at Bungie who was laid off from the company in the past, has called for Pete Parsons to step down.
You are a liat, a thief, and so many things we can’t discuss publicly. STEP DOWN and WITHOUT the giant Sony payout. This isn’t on Sony, this is squarely on the failure of lead ship. Plain and simple.
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) July 31, 2024
Destiny players have joined in on the plea for Parsons to step down from his position as CEO of Bungie, calling the layoffs “inexcusable”. Others have called for Bungie developers to unionise in order to prevent mass layoffs from happening again in the future. It’s worth noting that Bungie was already hit with some nasty layoffs back in October 2023, making this new round of job terminations even more questionable in light of Bungie recently putting out The Final Shape, its most acclaimed Destiny 2 DLC yet.
Source: Bungie
