New information says things are getting even worse for Bungie and Destiny 2

Bungie’s wide-ranging layoffs took place on Monday, but Tuesday shed light on the confusion, explaining what happened, why, and how it specifically relates to Destiny 2’s performance. Dedicated to uncovering new information.

I also spoke to a source. IGN and bloomberg, the pictures painted throughout are grainy to look at, especially for avid players of Bungie’s games, including Destiny. Here’s the information that came to light yesterday about how this happened and what the heck is going on there.

• Although Bungie is owned by Sony, it continues to operate as an independent division. As a result of Sony’s demands for widespread spending cuts, Bungie decided to make massive layoffs (estimated to be about 100 employees, or 8% of the company), and who will be let go and how that process unfolded. and decided based on what was said.The acquisition took place a year and a half ago. do not have means dismissal. Sony has no plans to hire internal employees, but some of the eliminated roles could be completely outsourced.
• Employees found themselves locked out of all accounts, systems, and emails before many knew they had been fired, and that was their first sign. After a short meeting, some were told they had been fired and told not to tell anyone about it. Some found out the layoffs were happening on Twitter.
• Employees were often not allowed to say goodbye to other team members or exchange contact information, which had to be done after the fact. Many team/line managers had no idea who was being removed from the team until it happened. Some teams only lost a few players, while others were wiped out.
• The company intentionally tried to conceal internally how many people had been laid off, and the figure of about 100 was only revealed in an external report after the fact. Bungie has let go of some of the company’s most storied veterans, including his pre-Halo composer Michael Salvatori and Lorraine McLees, who designed the original Halo logo. It became clear.
• Some employee benefits expire at the end of the month, so if you’re fired on the 30th, you’ll only have one extra day of coverage for those benefits. Your medical insurance will continue as COBRA coverage for three months until you are terminated.
• Under contracts with Sony, many employees held unvested stock that they were required to remain with the company for years to collect. However, if you resign, it becomes invalid, and this includes dismissal. In that case, the stock would revert back to Bungie, and many employees would involuntarily lose their stock to the company that fired them.

Bungie isn’t the first company to commit ruthless mass layoffs, but this all sounds more like the work of an investment bank than what is supposed to be a close-knit family. In fact, many of the employees felt like family to each other. That’s why losing one in 10 friends overnight is extremely difficult for the remaining employees. But this practice is a source of great anger within the company, and why so many people are willing to talk about what happened and what’s really going on there.

That’s the layoff, but further reporting from Bloomberg and IGN reveals the issue that caused this mess. Pete Parsons angered many when he said at City Hall that “the right people” were left behind to develop Destiny, but Destiny is in pretty bad shape right now, and so is Bungie.

• Employees were told that revenue is expected to be 45% lower than Bungie’s previous forecasts for this year. It’s unclear whether the estimates were too high in the first place (I’ve heard they’re unrealistic), but this miss also comes with a fundamental problem with the series.
• Lightfall was a major negative turning point. Although it gained a huge number of players at launch (which was Steam’s highest concurrent connection count since the D2 launch on the platform), the extremely unpopular response to the expansion reverberated through the end of the year, resulting in a lack of player support. Engagement has dropped significantly.
• Employees were told that player sentiment was at an all-time low, something they themselves had said for a long time, and they begged their bosses to make changes that would bring players back, many of which were rejected.
• Now, the previously reported four-month delay for The Final Shape has certainly been confirmed by both IGN and Bloomberg, though not by Bungie. Pre-sales for the expansion are low and the expansion is looking “not good” according to insiders, so there’s extra time to work on it.
• The marathon has also been postponed to 2025, and there are reports that it may be a little tough at the moment. For Bungie to have a significant revenue stream to fall back on outside of Destiny 2, Marathon will need to be a huge hit.
• And speaking of revenue, even as Bungie relentlessly pursues its position as a leader in remote work, the company is building an expensive new, sprawling 200,000 square foot building in Bellevue that cost tens of millions of dollars to build. Many employees are upset about Bungie’s investment in the company’s headquarters.
• But there is also some bad luck. This year may have been a down year for Destiny 2 no matter what, but it’s also been a turbulent year for game releases, with dozens of top-rated, very good, and often very long Games are being released almost endlessly. This is the year that offers a huge amount of alternatives to his 7 year old live games like Destiny 2, regardless of what content is being produced. So that’s at least a factor.

But now it is difficult to see how the situation will not get worse. I have seen community sentiment low before, but this is how low it has now fallen to as low as the “core of the earth”. Anger at Bungie management has caused many players to leave the game or cancel their Final Shape pre-orders. If Season 23 is extended by six to seven months, the loss of players will likely increase even further. And considering all of this, there’s a general feeling that Destiny will basically end for many after The Final Shape, regardless of what else is planned. The general idea in the industry is Bungie. needs The idea is to focus on Destiny 3 rather than continuing Destiny 2 indefinitely, but Bungie has given no indication that that’s the plan.

The situation is terrible from every angle. We’ve seen a lot of bad layoffs in the industry this year, but for those in the Destiny community, especially his Bungie employees, this feels like an active betrayal, to keep playing and keep working. No one knows how to stay motivated. After this.

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