Destiny 2 developer Bungie the latest games studio to suffer layoffs, CEO says it's "a sad day"
This follows recent job cuts at other PlayStation-affiliated studios.
Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2 and the upcoming Marathon reboot, has been hit by layoffs, the exact scope of which currently remains unclear.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier was the first to report the news, stating on social media that: “CEO Pete Parsons emailed the company this morning to say they'll be having a team meeting today to talk about ‘some news today coming out of Bungie’ as staff are informed”. Parsons has since taken to Twitter to share an official statement regarding the layoffs.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” the Bungie CEO wrote, “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.”
Among the affected was Destiny 2 community manager and Bungie co-lead of accessibility Liana Ruppert, who tweeted regarding the layoffs: “Well... my heart is breaking for all affected. I am now looking for opportunities. I have 21 years of games industry experience in media, production, and community management.”
I'm processing, I'm so heartbroken,” Ruppert added, “I don't know what to do from here... this was my home. I feel so lost.”
A number of other ex-Bungie staff also confirmed their departures, including social media lead Griffin Bennett and associate franchise editor Jason Guisao. The former tweeted that having been laid off was: “A surreal thing to write, as I sit here pondering what went wrong,” adding: “I'm still processing it all and while my first instinct is anger I know I'd regret what I'd say.”
Meanwhile, an update to the official website of Michael Salvatori, which has replaced the renowned Destiny and Halo composer’s homepage career rundown with “Gone Fishin' :)” has prompted fan speculation that he may also have been let go.
Bungie was acquired by Sony in 2022 for $3.6 billion, with PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan writing in a blog post announcing the acquisition: “Bungie’s world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers.”
Last week, it was reported that Little Big Planet developer Media Molecule, another PlayStation studio, would be laying off around 15% of its overall workforce, with Naughty Dog and Visual Arts also having recently let go of staff.