Future 2 developer Bungie is shedding an unspecified variety of folks, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons confirmed Monday after workers started talking up concerning the job cuts on social media.
Reached for remark, a Bungie consultant pointed Polygon to Parsons’ assertion on X (previously Twitter) and didn’t make clear the scope of the layoffs. Dozens of ex-Bungie workers have since posted on social media platforms like X and LinkedIn to share the information that they have been impacted by the layoffs. The layoffs look like unfold throughout Bungie’s neighborhood and social groups, advertising, authorized, recruiting, artwork, human sources, high quality assurance, and elsewhere.
“Immediately is a tragic day at Bungie as we are saying goodbye to colleagues who’ve all made a major impression on our studio,” Parsons wrote. “What these distinctive people have contributed to our video games and Bungie tradition has been huge and can proceed to be part of Bungie lengthy into the longer term.” (Parsons’ submit has acquired a whole bunch of responses on X, a number of of which have been important, utilizing phrases like “tone deaf” to explain Parsons’ assertion.)
Sony Interactive Leisure bought Bungie in 2022 in a $3.6 billion deal. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, who’s stepping down from the corporate in March, mentioned on the time that the studio “will stay unbiased and multi-platform [and] will get pleasure from artistic freedom.” A Washington Submit report printed days after the acquisition mentioned Bungie management informed employees there would no “completely no layoffs” on account of the acquisition. Sony additionally introduced that it supposed to spend $1.2 billion on worker retention — “deferred funds to worker shareholders, conditional upon their continued employment, and different retention incentives,” per Sony’s February 2022 earnings report.
Bungie’s layoffs on Monday come throughout a disastrous time interval for recreation business employees: Hundreds of individuals have been laid off this yr. Fortnite maker Epic Video games laid off greater than 800 workers in September; Epic CEO Tim Sweeney mentioned the corporate has been spending greater than it’s making. Gaming conglomerate Embracer, identified for quickly buying recreation studios, is reducing plenty of jobs and canceling video games, too. Saints Row developer Volition was utterly shuttered by Embracer, placing a whole bunch of individuals out of labor.
It’s not solely the huge corporations partaking in layoffs, although: Corporations of various sizes have been a part of the troubling development, like Telltale Video games, which minimize jobs in October, and Immortals of Aveum creator Ascendant Video games, which laid of half of its employees in September.
