Summary
- Bungie seems to still be hiring after the mass layoffs at the end of July.
- While many people were laid off, some roles will be integrated with Sony to prevent further redundancies.
Bungie is apparently still hiring after the company laid off 220 employees on July 31. The redundancies amounted to approximately 17 percent of the game studio’s total workforce and wiped out some teams entirely. This decision by Bungie came less than two months after the launch of The Final Shape, by many metrics Destiny 2’s most successful expansion to date.
Along with the significant number of Bungie employees who unexpectedly found themselves without employment, another 12 percent received news that their roles would be integrated with Sony Interactive Entertainment in the coming months. This move will help prevent further layoffs at Bungie, according to CEO Pete Parsons, which he states were a necessary cost-cutting measure despite the positive reception of its latest release.
Bungie Layoffs Included Two of Destiny's Biggest Names
Amid layoffs at Destiny developer Bungie, two of the studio's biggest names reportedly leave their roles due to the restructuring.
It’s also been noticed that there are still four open job roles posted on Bungie’s career website. Two of these are for the developer’s upcoming PvP extraction shooter Marathon, one listing is for a Destiny 2 gameplay designer, and the last is for a release manager in the marketing department. Granted, websites are not always immediately updated to reflect nascent events. It’s also to be expected that, while some roles have been cut, others might still need filling. However, in light of the layoffs, the optics for Bungie are not ideal.
Roles Bungie May Be Hiring For
- Destiny Gameplay Designer (Senior to Staff)
- Marathon Principal Product Manager, Live & Commerce
- Marathon Weapons Designer (Mid to Senior)
- Release Manager
The recent events at the studio are particularly painful for employees because Bungie was just hit with layoffs in October, making it the fourth Sony subsidiary to receive cutbacks that month. Layoffs in the gaming industry have been happening with concerning regularity for the past couple of years. Some of these have been attributed to overhiring during the pandemic, as well as the subsequent economic downturn. Others, including these latest redundancies at Bungie, have been laid at the feet of management.
In fact, in a statement released on July 31, CEO Pete Parsons explained that Bungie had been “overly ambitious” and consequently “stretched [its] talent too thin, too quickly.” Simultaneously, the company scaled to an unsustainable size that — coupled with instability in the games industry, the disappointing performance of Destiny 2: Lightfall, and general economic conditions — caused it to fall financially into the red. These admissions, along with Pete Parson’s personal spending habits, have caused Bungie employees to believe that this most recent round of layoffs could have been at least somewhat avoided.
Nevertheless, even in the wake of employment uncertainty, recently affected Bungie staffers are still proud of the work they did during their time at the developer. One former member of the QA team took to social media to express her excitement for the next Destiny 2 raid and stated that she’ll probably still play it at launch.
