Bungie “Overstated Financial Prospects” to Sony, Necessitating Deep Cuts and Layoffs – Report

Bungie “Overstated Financial Prospects” to Sony, Necessitating Deep Cuts and Layoffs – Report

As a long-time gamer with a deep affection for Bungie and their iconic franchise, Destiny, hearing about yet another round of layoffs at the studio has left me feeling both disheartened and frustrated. I’ve been following Bungie since Halo days, and watching them struggle to find their footing after the success of Destiny 1 is heart-wrenching.


Bungie recently announced that it’s laying off 220 people, in addition to another 155 being shifted over to PlayStation, and another portion of the workforce being spun off into a separate, new studio. It’s a deep, significant round of cuts for a studio that was already dealing with another round of widespread layoffs last October that saw roughly 100 roles being cut. In a post announcing the newest round of layoffs, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons attributed the studio’s struggles to its steep ambitions, and journalist Stephen Totilo’s newsletter Game File has shed further light on that, citing multiple anonymous sources.

From my perspective, it seems like Bungie’s struggles might be attributed to their leadership potentially overestimating the studio’s financial capabilities in certain aspects. In essence, I believe Sony may have paid more for Bungie than what was realistically deliverable, and it appears that Bungie promised more than they could actually fulfill.

According to reports, Bungie has allegedly failed to meet financial goals set by Sony on several occasions, with this issue being previously mentioned as well. It’s said that since the release of Destiny 2: Lightfall in 2023, the studio has been facing financial losses. The recent layoffs in October were intended to demonstrate to Sony executives that Bungie was taking significant actions to improve its finances, but the report suggests that even the leadership at Bungie understood these cuts were not enough.

It appears that the leadership at the studio had been contemplating significant layoffs as early as the start of 2024. According to reports, even if Destiny 2: The Final Shape had been an unprecedented commercial hit, it wouldn’t have prevented the necessity for these widespread job cuts within the studio.

Last year, there were rumors swirling that the release of ‘Destiny 2: The Final Shape’ didn’t meet expectations, which might have meant more job cuts at Bungie. Interestingly, Totilo reported that ‘The Final Shape’ didn’t sell as well as last year’s ‘Lightfall’ during its launch. You can find more details about this comparison through the link here. As a gamer, I’m keeping an eye on how things unfold for Bungie and their games.

It appears that both past and present staff members generally feel that Bungie’s management has contributed to the company’s mismanagement, and they believe that not being sold to Sony might have been a more beneficial option for Bungie instead.

“The alternate history is insolvency,” one source said.

According to Bungie, there are no changes anticipated in their earlier-shared content strategies for Destiny. You can get further details by following this link.

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2024-08-02 03:41