<\/p>\n
It\u2019s another grim day for gaming, as a substantial chunk of one of the industry\u2019s most iconic studios has been hit by layoffs.<\/p>\n
Bungie arguably hasn\u2019t felt like the Bungie many of us grew up loving for quite some time now, but that doesn\u2019t make the news any easier to stomach. These are still real people losing their jobs, and it marks another ugly chapter for a studio that once seemed untouchable. More worryingly, it also feels like a prologue to what\u2019s going to happen at Xbox.<\/p>\n
A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing with the Washington State Employment Security Department lists 292 Bungie job losses in Bellevue, Washington. The effective separation date is July 9.<\/p>\n
That number does not necessarily represent the full scale of the cuts, either. Sony has also said there are reductions across SIE teams that support Bungie\u2019s operations, meaning the overall impact may be wider than the Bellevue WARN filing alone. Previous reports suggested up to half of the studio were facing layoffs, while Paul Tassi said earlier today that around 400 Bungie employees were sitting in the layoff call.<\/p>\n
Jason Schreier says the layoffs include \u201cmost of the Destiny\u201d team, some of the folk working on Marathon and even some Sony staff that helped Bungie.<\/p>\n
In an internal email published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony\u2019s Studio Business Group, said the layoffs affect \u201ca significant number\u201d of Bungie employees, including \u201cmost of the Destiny team\u201d and \u201csome Marathon team members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hulst said the decision followed months of discussion with Bungie leadership, with Sony reviewing Bungie\u2019s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs and place within the wider PlayStation portfolio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary,\u201d Hulst wrote, saying the cuts were needed to align Bungie\u2019s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals.<\/p>\n
Bungie\u2019s own explanation is even more blunt. In a statement, the studio said Destiny 2 \u201cfell short of expectations these past several years,\u201d and that with future projects still in early incubation, it \u201ccould not continue operating at our previous size.\u201d<\/p>\n
That lines up with where Bungie is right now. Destiny 2 recently received its final live-service content update, while the studio\u2019s focus has shifted toward Marathon. Marathon is far from dead \u2014 Sony specifically says it remains an important part of the portfolio \u2014 but it clearly has not magically solved Bungie\u2019s problems either. And based on what we learned a few weeks ago, Bungie doesn\u2019t have any other projects currently in development, either.<\/p>\n
On top of the layoffs, Bungie Studio Head Justin Truman is reportedly stepping down, according to Bloomberg\u2019s Jason Schreier. That part has not been officially confirmed by Sony or Bungie at the time of writing, so treat it carefully for now. That said, Schreier\u2019s sources are usually very reliable.<\/p>\n
Truman only took over last year after longtime Bungie boss Pete Parsons stepped aside, making this another leadership change in what has already been a brutal few years for the studio. We do not know why Truman is reportedly leaving. It may simply be another changing of the guard, or it may be part of Sony\u2019s wider reshaping of Bungie after years of underperformance. Either way, it paints a pretty bleak picture.<\/p>\n
This is also not Bungie\u2019s first round of cuts under Sony. GeekWire notes that Bungie has now cut more than 600 jobs across three rounds of layoffs since Sony acquired the studio for $3.6 billion in 2022. That includes roughly 100 jobs in October 2023, another 220 in July 2024, and now the 292 Bellevue jobs listed in the latest WARN filing.<\/p>\n
Sony has also taken impairment losses against Bungie more than once, something I\u2019ve covered separately, and today\u2019s news makes that already messy acquisition look even rougher.<\/p>\n
For now, Bungie continues. Marathon remains in development, Destiny 2 remains playable, and Sony says it will support affected staff where possible. But there\u2019s no dressing this up: this is a massive blow to Bungie, to the people who built Destiny, and to one of the most historically important studios in gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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