Yesterday was a dark day in the video game industry. Bungie, the creator of famous game franchises such as Halo and Destiny, has decided to lay off part of its staff. In addition to the layoffs, the company has also delayed the releases of two of its upcoming titles: Marathon and The Final Shape, the fourth and final expansion of Destiny 2.
According to Jason Schreier, a journalist from Bloomberg, there is still no official number of layoffs at the company, which coincides with other staff cuts at Sony. The parent company of the PlayStation brand acquired Bungie last year for a whopping 3.6 billion dollars.
Some Bungie employees have already confirmed their layoffs on social media: “I have been laid off from Bungie,” expressed Griffin Bennett, who worked as the Global Social Media Lead at the company until yesterday.
“It’s surreal to write this as I sit here reflecting on what went wrong. I’m still processing everything, and although my initial instinct is anger, I know I would regret what I would say. Thanks to everyone at Bungie who contributed to making my last 5 years the best of my life,” Bennett continued.
Paul Tassi, a journalist from Forbes, stated on his Twitter that it was Bungie itself who decided to carry out the layoffs, not Sony, citing a close source. Tassi also explained that by laying off the workers on October 30th, the company’s health insurance will only cover them until today, October 31st.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie, as we say goodbye to colleagues who have had a significant impact on our studio,” wrote Pete Parsons, CEO of Bungie, on his Twitter account.
These layoffs add to the many that the technology industry has been experiencing since the pandemic. Just this year, more than a thousand people have been laid off in the video game sector, including companies like Niantic (Pokémon Go), Epic Games (Fortnite), Naughty Dog (The Last of Us), and CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077).
