The state of Bungie is pretty miserable right now. This subsidiary company of Sony Interactive Entertainment is famous for titles like Halo, Destiny, and many more. However, the highly-hailed company is going through a pretty rough patch.
This popular gaming studio is on a row of laying of its employees on a large scale. Things have gone so bad that newly joined people also lost their way. And the laid-off employees can’t help but protest for their losses now.
Bungie Lays Off 17% of Its Staff
The CEO of the company, Pete Parsons, has announced Wednesday that they are laying off 220 employees from the company, which stands for 17% of the total staff they have. However, this massive lay off comes with a piece of potential ‘good news’. In a blog post, this is what Parson had to say about this incident:
Due to rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions, it has become clear that we need to make substantial changes to our cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on ‘Destiny’ and ‘Marathon,’.
He has also stated that this action would also affect every level of the company, including most of its executive and senior leader roles. However, all the impacted employees will receive exit packages, which will include severance, a bonus, and health coverage. To ensure open and transparent communication, the company will host team meetings and town halls, team breakout sessions, and private individual sessions.
Along with this huge layoff, the company will integrate 155 staff, or 12% of the total employees, into Sony Interactive Entertainment for the next few quarters. The Halo-famed company is working closely with PlayStation Studios leadership to create a new studio to develop an action game that is based on a science-fiction universe.
The Impacted Employees Are Not Holding Back
Due to this unfortunate incident, many staff chose to voice out their disgust over the company CEO. Sam, one of those affected employees, expressed her grudge over Parsons.
Coward.
You did this. You chose this.
I’m already listed as “do not work with” and I don’t care anymore. You lied to my face. Straight to it. You also invited me to come see your new cars TWO DAYS before you laid me off. Two. Fucking. Days.
Leave. Now. pic.twitter.com/nWVGgWXH8J
— Sam 🖤 (@TheSamBartley) July 31, 2024
She stated that despite being invited to see the CEO’s new cars, she was dismissed right after two days. She also stated that the company has already listed her as “do not work with.”
Frustrations have gone so much out of hand that the former A11y Co-Lead of the company, Liana Ruppert, stated that Parsons should step down from his position as CEO of the company.
Pete Parsons needs to step down.
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) July 31, 2024
Player Support Analyst of the company Alexandra lamented on Twitter, saying her whole team is gone. Ruppert then went onto retweet this post with her own opinions. She stated the player support team was also utterly disappointed.
The player support team was also gutted, as well as some of the folks behind the most beloved narrative moments and sounds. The player support team worked harder than anyone else, through weekends – holidays – and the pay was atrocious… only to the tossed out so LY could get… https://t.co/z2XveKAjay
— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) July 31, 2024
According to her, this team was very hardworking, but still every time they were underpaid. Despite all the hard work and atrocious pay, this team is still tossed, she added.
What’s your opinion on this huge wave of layoffs at Bungie? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
