Bungie lays off 17% of its employees
The studio Bungie announced significant layoffs. 220 people, or approximately 17% of the workforce, will lose their jobs.
Marathon
The layoffs will affect employees at all levels. They will include both regular workers and top managers. The studio promises to support all those laid off and provide generous severance pay.
According to Bungie's CEO Pete Parsons, the studio is forced to proceed with layoffs due to financial issues. He explained that in recent years, Bungie has been attempting to work on games across three franchises simultaneously, but this proved to be too challenging. It had overly ambitious goals, ultimately overburdened itself, and began operating at a loss. Bungie was also impacted by the failure of the Lightfall expansion for Destiny 2 (although The Final Shape performed well), a sharp downturn in the gaming industry, and a poor economic environment globally. Now Bungie will focus on two franchises — Destiny and Marathon.
Parsons added that Bungie tried to avoid layoffs, but had no remaining options that would help the studio correct its situation.
It was also reported that Bungie will strengthen its integration with Sony Interactive Entertainment:
- Over the next several quarters, 155 Bungie employees will move to other company structures. Thanks to this decision, fewer people will lose their jobs;
- Bungie will open a new studio within PlayStation Studios and entrust it with the development of an unannounced action game set in a new science fiction universe.
