Sony-Owned ‘Destiny’ Developer Bungie Lays Off Dozens Of Employees

Sony-owned game developer Bungie laid off 8% of its staff, around 100 people, this week, according to a report published by Bloomberg.

The article says that the Bungie layoffs were part of larger cost-cutting measures at Sony’s Playstation unit, which has also let go of workers at its offices in San Mateo and its studios Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and Media Molecule (Little Big Planet). The piece quotes a TD Cowen report from Doug Creutz, which suggests: “Events over the last few days lead us to believe that Playstation is undergoing a restructuring.”

Many of the Bungie layoffs came from its support departments. Sources at Bungie told Bloomberg that some laid-off employees will be replaced via outsourcing.

Two weeks ago, Bungie executives told employees that revenue was running 45% below projections for the year. According to CEO Pete Parsons, the drop was primarily due to a significant decline in the player base of its flagship franchise, Destiny.

Destiny 2 is a sci-fi first-person shooter roleplaying game. Because it is always online, the game requires constant maintenance, and Bungie typically releases one major expansion per year. This franchise’s next expansion, The Final Shape, was scheduled for release in February 2023 but has reportedly been pushed to June. The company is also delaying the launch of a new game titled Marathon until 2025.

According to Bloomberg’s sources at the studio, unscheduled meetings appeared on the calendars of dozens of Bungie employees on Monday morning. The mass layoffs happened at those meetings.

Dismissed Bungie employees will receive three months of severance and three months of COBRA health insurance, covered by Bungie. They will also receive prorated bonuses. However, employees receiving shares on a vesting schedule following Sony’s acquisition of Bungie in January of last year will lose all shares not vested by next month.

Parsons shared his condolences regarding the layoffs on Twitter in a post that has not gone over well with gamers. He wrote:

Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio. 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.

These are truly talented people. If you have openings, I would highly recommend each and every one of them.