Bungie CEO Claims Layoffs Had been Attributable to Future 2 Underperformance

In an inner city corridor assembly addressing a Monday spherical of layoffs that impacted a number of departments, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons allegedly informed remaining staff that the corporate had stored “the fitting individuals” to proceed work on Future 2.

Chatting with a number of present and lately laid off staff, IGN has confirmed studies that Bungie took accountability for the layoffs, relatively than laying them on the ft of father or mother firm Sony. Parsons informed staff that the layoffs have been largely because of underperformance of Future 2 over the past 12 months, in addition to lower-than-expected preorders for upcoming enlargement The Remaining Form.

IGN can now independently affirm studies that The Remaining Form has been delayed to June 2024, and Marathon has been internally delayed to 2025 after having been in growth since 2019.

Workers have been additionally informed that Future 2 participant sentiment was at an all-time low. Sources inform IGN that this challenge had been flagged to management repeatedly for months previous to the layoffs, with staff begging for obligatory adjustments to win gamers again.

One former Bungie worker recalled that they have been repeatedly assured following the 2022 Sony acquisition of Bungie that there can be no layoffs, and cited an merchandise from a Sony quarterly report that claimed $1.2 billion of the $4 billion acquisition was going explicitly towards employees retention. A number of staff confirmed that cash was distributed to staff who have been absolutely vested, with cash break up into a number of funds over time and ranging primarily based on self-discipline and seniority.

Different staff additionally informed IGN they felt particularly pissed off with the layoffs on condition that the corporate had accomplished work on a model new headquarters, greater than double the scale of its earlier workplace and certain an expensive improve in Bellevue, Washington. [Note: The archived Bungie blog article was available this morning when we first drafted this piece, but as of 3:00pm PT today appeared to have been taken down. Update 3:43pm: It’s back online.]

Parsons was criticized in some quarters for calling the layoffs a “unhappy day at Bungie” in a tweet which equally angered a number of staff we spoke to.

In the present day is a tragic day at Bungie as we are saying goodbye to colleagues who’ve all made a major impression on our studio. 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.

— pete parsons (@pparsons) October 30, 2023

The precise variety of these impacted remains to be nebulous, although some sources we spoke to steered roughly round 100 staff, a quantity additionally reported by Bloomberg earlier right this moment. A number of staff claimed that internally, Bungie management has tried to obfuscate the numbers and departments of these impacted whereas discouraging staff from asking questions on these subjects in firm chats.

IGN has now heard of layoffs impacting the neighborhood crew, artwork, engineering, recruiting, authorized, audio, QA, artistic studios, and IT, with impacts throughout each the Future 2 and Marathon groups, and together with a number of members of the corporate’s range committee and accessibility membership. These impacted are receiving a minimal of three months of severance and COBRA well being advantages, although different firm advantages terminated instantly.

Being deemed expendable hurts

A number of staff expressed frustration in regards to the layoffs, saying they felt that the choices resulting in the corporate’s obvious cash struggles have been out of their arms, and that those that have been laid off have been being punished for an issue they largely didn’t trigger.

“It’s undoubtedly bizarre, being the one who’s laid off primarily based off the choices and performances of individuals in departments you’re not concerned with,” one impacted worker informed IGN. “Being deemed expendable hurts.”

Moreover, IGN has been informed {that a} noticeable variety of staff had been dismissed from the QA crew within the weeks and months main as much as yesterday’s layoffs. Whereas the precise quantity is unknown, the variety of departures over time have been notable sufficient that the corporate’s head of QA despatched an e mail round to employees members addressing the state of affairs. IGN has reviewed the e-mail, which claimed the dismissals “weren’t layoffs and never a results of value chopping in any means,” including that “if we ever did layoffs, we might be very upfront about it.”

Workers acquainted with the state of affairs informed IGN that the dismissals got here alongside what felt like a rising “crackdown” on QA, with elevated job obligations and a number of individuals being positioned on efficiency enchancment plans (PIPs) for seemingly minor infractions.

In 2021, IGN spoke to 26 present and former staff at Bungie a couple of pervasive, poisonous work tradition on the Future 2 developer that on the time appeared to slowly be enhancing because of the continuing efforts of staff on the floor degree. Nevertheless, earlier this month we additionally reported on an ongoing lawsuit filed towards Bungie by a former HR supervisor, who claims she was wrongfully terminated for reporting potential racial bias within the firm.

IGN has reached out to Bungie for remark.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Acquired a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.