-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Bungie is laying off 220 employees (~17% of its workforce)
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
sankt-Antonio
:^)--?-<
1300 Dev's for Destiny? Wow.
NuclearDiarrhea
Member
If someone said "fuck xbox" after saying we should not resort to "console warring" and that we should "be better", I'd assume that person was being sarcastic.
The Chairman
Member
Video games?
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Brutal. Yeah, Bungie leadership seems uniquely terrible.
Mossybrew
Member
Yeah, good question, sounds like the studio was just bloated with people and still trying to do too much at once with these other unannounced projects.
Anyway I'm still quite looking forward to see how Marathon turns out and if this makes for a more lean, focused Bungie it's probably for the best.
LordCBH
Member
No, it was 1300 split between Destiny, Marsthon, at least one unannounced product, and leadership. Now it’s 850 between Marathon and Destiny.
AltogetherAndrews
Banned
Last edited:
Not_A-Cop_Maybe
Member
that the tech sector was in a giant bubble? Have a look into how many hires/jobs were created during and at the start of the pandemic, it will be staggering. Ironically these lay-offs are still like less than 30% of who was hired during covid.
Another contributing factor for "xbox" not just Microsoft, was that they just completed a 75 billion dollar merger with a gaming and publishing studio. There were bound to be many redundant layoffs. Many let go from the microsoft side of things were either redundancies, or change in market strategy. Ie) the whole AI thing that Nvidia is sitting on the top now.
Does it suck that lay-offs happen, absolutely. Could many of them be a result of cost savings and just making change for greedy shareholders?, you fucking bet.
If anything the layoffs should have been expected from xbox. They are 3rd in the market by a lot. Have had shit output for years, and many of the top franchises have taken hits critically and financially. Layoffs are the expectation here. IF any positive spin can be added, it can simply be cause they have to get rid of the same depts as activision has after the merger. Ie) QC, publishing, etc. MS (as a whole) on the other hand, has been extremely profitable and layoffs are imo unwarranted other than for profit.
Sony on the other hand, are dominant in the 2nd place with overall good and positive net sales, etc. Them doing layoffs is purely for profit.
This is me being highly simplistic and im sure there's more nuanced and detailed info.
JackMcGunns
Member
I do have to question why they bought their studio back from Acti-Blizz, only to sell to Sony. Was the number just THAT high, or the higher-ups were looking to retire? Or maybe Destiny 2 wasn't doing that well for them?
Either way, having recently dipped my toe back into Destiny 2 (didn't buy the expansion), it definitely seems like there are problems keeping engagement. From what I've seen, the community was pretty happy with their last expansion, but have largely fallen off since finishing it. Given their "big announcement" was actually going from four "Seasons" a year down to *three*, it's not surprising that things aren't sitting well behind the scenes. It sort of feels like they're trying to pave the way for a "Destiny 3", but this is certainly not promising news.
Either way, having recently dipped my toe back into Destiny 2 (didn't buy the expansion), it definitely seems like there are problems keeping engagement. From what I've seen, the community was pretty happy with their last expansion, but have largely fallen off since finishing it. Given their "big announcement" was actually going from four "Seasons" a year down to *three*, it's not surprising that things aren't sitting well behind the scenes. It sort of feels like they're trying to pave the way for a "Destiny 3", but this is certainly not promising news.
Angry_Megalodon
Gold Member
The CEO and senior leadership are clear scumbags, but the fact that Sony listened to these people to decide the fate of Factions is egregious.
If Concord and Fairgames bomb, Hermen should get his ass kicked.
If Concord and Fairgames bomb, Hermen should get his ass kicked.
pasterpl
Member
As many as I can. Haven’t you seen threads about MS layoffs and all doom and gloom in there posted by the same users all over again?How many times are you going to try and make this a talking point in this thread?
Not_A-Cop_Maybe
Member
tbf you did say "On an unrelated note".
I know you were being sarcastic, i was just being an ass saying "sony too" lol
AltogetherAndrews
Banned
I was… and then Joe Ziegler happened.
Players Fear Bungie’s ‘Marathon’ May Be A Hero Shooter Now
Marathon has a new game director and apparently a new hero extraction shooter concept, according to a new report. Players are not having it.
www.forbes.com
Not_A-Cop_Maybe
Member
Last edited:
Mossybrew
Member
I was… and then Joe Ziegler happened.
Players Fear Bungie’s ‘Marathon’ May Be A Hero Shooter Now
Marathon has a new game director and apparently a new hero extraction shooter concept, according to a new report. Players are not having it.
"The idea here seems to be that instead of the promised player customization that was spoken about during the reveal, this would instead be a hero-based extraction game instead, channeling Ziegler’s former game, Valorant."
Well that's shitty news, thx for the heads up.
AltogetherAndrews
Banned
It’s just funny, in a really pathetic sort of way.
LordCBH
Member
To be fair, Activision didn’t own them. It was a publishing agreement.
AltogetherAndrews
Banned
I just hope that if anything good is going to come out of the Concord debacle, it might be that they rethink this direction.
DeaDPo0L84
Member
Lightfall really became their downfall. They pushed representation so hard for that DLC that the core audience rejected it and the story which was meant to lead up to the Final Shape was absolutely garbage.
Solarstrike
Member
Sony came in, pilfered the talent (and tech), now the studio is on the chopping block. That's what billion dollar corporation's do, they buy the competition. RIP Bungie, it was fun while it lasted.
Last edited:
tmlDan
Member
I wonder if Pete is on his way out soon, they did say leadership will also be affected.
Prob replaced by Hermen
rabbity-thing
Member
People losing their jobs? Quick, how can I make this about woke stuff?
tmlDan
Member
But this was Bungie, not Sony. yes, Sony pressured them to be in the green, not red, but this is entirely on Bungie failing to meet expectations, independently
Last edited:
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Sony paid $3.6 billion for Bungie back only two years ago. What did that get Sony?
- Destiny, a GAAS that's now seen its last expansion and is therefore on its way out
- Marathon, a forthcoming GAAS, release date probably 2025
- A new yet untitled game
That was a ridiculous amount of money for a IP running on fumes plus two new unproven games. Sony could have bankrolled a dozen of big budget AAA games with that $3.6 billion and would have generated more revenues and profits doing so.
And now they've spent all that money and still have 850 Bungie employees on their payroll working on Destiny and Marathon. They're probably still hemorrhaging cash.
Wooxsvan
Member
well, dont be so naive. Bungie has championed such causes which have turned off many of their audience and also on the other hand distracts from actual design/art/programming work being done. time is limited in dev cycles. I dont play their woke games anymore because of the horrible influence on my children for 1 reason. i know many parents who have taken the same route. wake up, dont be woke.
Roman Empire
Member
It'd be the 4th or 5th time?
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
What ever happened to that corporate PR by Bungie execs saying the buyout agreement still allowed Bungie to run as it’s own studio with independent leadership?
Last edited:
LordCBH
Member
That bit was contingent on the studio hitting financial goals, which they whiffed on pretty massively.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I remember talk back then about clauses that said Sony could take over Bungie if the financials stunk. Maybe this is the start of it. Not a total take over. But a chunk of employees working under the Sony umbrella now.
And if Bungie keeps doing poorly, another 100-200 people will shift over.
And if Bungie keeps doing poorly, another 100-200 people will shift over.
Mr.ODST
Member
Excuses coming out quick, where’s the outrage inline with the MS ones as Bungie is a Sony studio.
Either way all corps are just going to keep laying people off, simply, the industry is in a sad state
Last edited:
BigBeauford
Member
Well you see, prior to going broke, they went...what's the word for it?
Badlucktroll
Member
LordCBH
Member
tmlDan
Member
what are you saying? Really difficult to comprehend what you're trying to communicate here, outrage line?
Tams
Member
ResilientBanana
Member
With less people, maybe they'll get a productivity boost when they all think their jobs are on the line.
nial
Member
Considering Helldivers 2 and Concord, I don't see this being the case. Regardless of everything behind the scenes on TLOU Online that we may never know about, are people really sad that Naughty Dog is not becoming a GAAS studio?
BTW, Bungie has been reporting to Hermen Hulst ever since June, so a PS Studios integration looks more and more likely by the time. Heck, they're even establishing a new internal unit at PSS America consisting of former Bungie staff, that is probably making a SP game.
Tiago Rodrigues
Gold Member
"It's okay to kill people in games but omg children plz don't look, there's a gay character in there and an ugly woman that doesn't look like a barbie"
If your kids won't turn out to be killers because of the "influence" of a game, don't worry...chances are they won't suddenly be lgbt as well because of them. If one of them turns out to be one, they would always be without the game. There's plenty of millenials and gen x people out there that aren't straight and guess what? never played games with a single gay character in them.
Seeing so many posts taking advantage of this massive layoff to talk about "woke stuff" is honestly disgusting and makes no sense. One thing is literally no related with the other. People are losing their jobs right now and you guys are worried about that?
ReBurn
Gold Member
I'm not giving anyone shit for anything.
nial
Member
LOL. We're not talking about Ghost of Tsushima 2, ND's next project and Gran Turismo 8 flopping back to back. You're truly delusional.
clarky
Gold Member
Yeah because that's working out so well for Concord lol.