Following yesterday’s news about layoffs having hit the staff of Destiny 2 developer Bungie, more details are surfacing about the scope and circumstances of the operation.
According to a report published today by Bloomberg, the number of jobs cut is about 100, 8% of the whole workforce which counted roughly 1,200 employees.
The reason behind such a drastic cut in the workforce is reportedly poor sales, with executives having told employees two weeks ago that revenue for the year was 45% below expectations due to weak player retemption following lukewarm reception of the Lightfall expansion.
On the other hand, the upcoming expansion titled The Final Shape was receiving good feedback from testers, but not great, prompting the (yet unconfirmed at the moment of this writing) decision to delay it from February 27, 2024, to June.
Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons reportedly told employees that everyone would have to work together to weather the storm, including the cutting of travel costs and the freezing of salaries and hiring.
Things then came to a head yesterday morning, when many employees were called into 15-minute meetings intended to announce the layoffs.
A high percentage of the cuts was localized within the company’s support departments, including publishing and community relations, and some of these roles may end up being outsourced.
Employees affected will reportedly receive at least three months of severance and three months of health insurance. They will also receive prorated bonuses, but they will lose shares received from Sony’s acquisition that weren’t vested.
The report also alleges that the layoffs have been triggered by a widespread cost-saving operation at Sony’s PlayStation Studios, following similar layoffs at Media Molecule and Naughty Dog.
This happened during a particularly harsh period for employment in the gaming industry, with layoffs having hit many major and smaller players including Microsoft, Epic Games, Embracer Group, Frontier, Team17, and more.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (which owns Bungie following the acquisition in 2022) will announce its financial results and host its quarterly conference call for press, investors, and analysts on November 9. It’s possible that we may hear more details about its cost-cutting initiative then.
Of course, you can expect a full report here on TechRaptor if anything relevant is shared.
