UPDATE 1/11/23: Destiny fans have criticised the statement from Bungie boss Pete Parsons describing the loss of around 100 employees as a “sad day”, as more details on the impact of the studio’s layoffs come to light.
Parsons’ tweet has been called out as tone deaf “Your senior social lead probably would have recommended against this post, which you would have known had you not let them go,” wrote Alex_frostwolf, Respawn’s global social media lead on Apex Legends. “Pity.”
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.
— pete parsons (@pparsons) October 30, 2023
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An IGN report last night stated that Bungie had taken responsibility for the layoffs, rather than them being part of a wider Sony directive to cut costs. Dwindling numbers of people playing Destiny 2 was blamed, alongside disappointing pre-order numbers for next year’s climactic expansion The Final Shape.
In an internal meeting, Parsons reportedly told staff that Bungie had kept “the right people” able to turn its fortunes around, despite cuts to its community, engineering, recruitment, legal, audio, QA, IT and creative teams.
As reported earlier this week, it appears acclaimed Destiny composer Michael Salvatori is no longer working on the franchise.
ORIGINAL STORY 30/10/23:Yesterday’s layoffs at Destiny 2 developer Bungie reportedly impacted 100 employees – approximately eight percent of its 1200-strong workforce – and occurred just weeks after management warned staff revenue for the year was running significantly below expectations.