Bungie is the latest PlayStation studio to be hit with layoffs
Update: Addressing the job cuts, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons calls today “a sad day”
Destiny maker Bungie is the latest Sony Interactive Entertainment studio to be hit with layoffs.
While the scope of the job cuts is currently unclear, Bloomberg’s reporter Jason Schreier claimed Bungie CEO Pete Parsons informed employees that a company-wide meeting would be held on Monday to discuss the situation.
One employee impacted by the layoffs is Destiny 2 community manager and Bungie co-lead of accessibility Liana Ruppert.
Update
Bungie has reportedly delayed Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion, The Final Shape, as well as its next full game, Marathon.
Update 2
Bungie CEO Parsons has addressed today’s news in a public statement.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” he said. “What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.”
“Well… my heart is breaking for all affected,” Ruppert wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“I am now looking for opportunities. I have 21 years of games industry experience in media, production, and community management. I’m processing, I’m so heartbroken. I don’t know what to do from here… this was my home.”
Sony acquired Bungie in July 2022 for $3.6 billion. Prior to the deal’s completion, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said the deal would “be a catalyst to enhance our live game services capabilities” and represent “a major step forward in becoming more multiplatform”.
The company later said it was using Bungie to rigorously vet its many in-development live service games, and a multiplayer spin-off of The Last of Us was reportedly scaled back following a negative review by the studio.
Earlier this month, it was reported that The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog was cutting contracts short for dozens of workers, while several developers announced that they had been laid off from PlayStation’s Visual Arts group.
Further reading
Bungie has reportedly delayed Destiny 2’s next expansion and Marathon
Last week, Sony also confirmed plans to cut jobs at Dreams and LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule.
Job losses across the games industry have been widespread in 2023. Companies impacted by layoffs this year include Xbox, Epic Games, CD Projekt, Unity, Riot Games, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, BioWare, Striking Distance, Team17, Frontier Developments and Telltale Games.
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