On Monday, we learned that Bungie was the latest team at PlayStation Studios to undergo a wave of layoffs, and today we have new details about what happened. According to Bloomberg, the company has decided to cut about 100 positions from a workforce of 1,200 employees, which is 8% of the studio, in a move that comes after a significant decline in the popularity of Destiny 2 as well as a very discouraging revenue forecast.
Bungie: Financial Struggles and Cost-Cutting Measures
Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier explains that two weeks ago, Bungie executives shared with employees that revenue was 45% below the projections for the year. CEO Pete Parsons emphasized the low user retention of Destiny 2 after the release of the Eclipse expansion, which went on sale last February. The new expansion, The Final Shape, seems to be on the right track, but Bungie has decided to delay its release from February to June 2024 to improve the product. The company has not yet officially announced this change of date.
In that same meeting, Pete Parsons announced expense cuts, including travel and a salary freeze, and encouraged the staff to work together to weather the storm. But last Monday, things took a turn for the worse when a new meeting was held to announce the round of layoffs. Those affected will receive the corresponding bonuses, but not the money that Sony agreed to pay employees as part of the purchase agreement. Of the $3.6 billion that Sony decided to pay for Bungie, $1.2 billion is for the employees, but it is transferred over the years and one must be part of the workforce.
Sony Vision and Destiny 2 Current State
When Sony completed the purchase of Bungie in 2022, Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of the Japanese company, said that this move represented “a big step forward in becoming more multi-platform.” The executive also expressed hope that it would serve as a “catalyst for improving the performance of our games as a service.” One year later, Destiny 2, Bungie’s flagship, is not in its best moment, and Jim Ryan, head of PlayStation and the executive who has championed games as a service, is stepping down.
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