Major shakeup at Gaming Tycoon: Bungie Layoffs Announced

Unfortunately, yet another sign that the gaming industry is facing economic hot winds. Destiny developer Bungie hits by laying off its staff this week. There was no official number of laid-off employees was announced. The news was shared by the ex-Bungie employee on social media. If you don’t know who is Bungie, then continue reading. This post will help you know all about Bungie layoffs and their aftermath effects on the gaming industry.

Who is Bungie

The creator of Halo and developer of the Destiny franchise, Bungie is a game giant with massive titles. And new titles are to be announced soon. The Bellevue, Washington-based studio is now the fourth subsidiary company of Sony to have downsized. As October 2023 ends, the management pushed its employees off the cliff to cut down employee figures.

Sony bought Bungie last year for $3.6 billion in an edge-cutting deal just like the Microsoft-Blizzard deal. This made Bungie an independent development unit of teams within a company. Bloomberg first reported that the PlayStation division will soon have layoffs in the division as part of cut plans.

How do Layoffs affect the Gaming Industry?

Layoffs are now being a trend in the gaming industry. This began as the Naughty Dog laid off the quality assurance staff due to downsizing back in a few months this year. Since, then various tech giants like Visual Arts, Media Molecule, and now, Bungie have been on the same norm.

Some chose to openly publicize the layoffs like Embracer Group, a gaming giant from Swedish announced the downsizing due to the worst global economic condition. While others like Sony make the layoffs repetitive plan for the year with minimum to no explanation to the public.

Layoffs affect the overall company workflow. This may result in the cancelation of a project or the possibility of an extended release date. In worst cases, it may result in an occasional or temporary shutdown of the studio in the region. This impacts the reputation of the companies in negative terms and backlashes on social media accounts.

Bungie Management on Layoffs

In an X post, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons acknowledged the difficult decision but said it was necessary to help ensure the long-term success and stability of the company. The news was further confirmed by newly fired Bungie employees.

Jason Schreier from Bloomsberg got his hands on an internal memo for the employees. This memo highlights the agenda for the 30th October internal meeting to be the layoffs of the employees. The above X post shows the details of the layoffs shared which will result in the delay of the upcoming games: Destiny 2: The Final Shape and Marathon in 2024.

The gaming industry has seen a number of high-profile layoffs in recent months. The economic slowdown impacts the gaming industry across various sectors. Other major studios like Electronic Arts, Xbox Games Studios, and Sony Bend have all initiated staff cuts as budgets tighten and projections look more uncertain. CD Projekt Red and Team17 are also the indie game developers who announced downsizing.

Bungie layoffs may have their own reasons. But a decision is made which is disappointing for many fans. Fans now anxiously awaiting the latest game release news from Bungie. But the layoffs are a reminder that even the biggest studios are feeling economic pressure. Let’s wait for updates with fingers crossed.