Not even Destiny 2: The Final Shape being a runaway blockbuster success would have prevented Bungie’s latest layoffs, report claims

It reportedly didn’t matter whether Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion delivered a “blockbuster performance”, Bungie’s latest layoffs were in the works prior to its release and “couldn’t be avoided” even if the much-hyped bit of DLC, which garnered a positive reception, had been a runaway commercial success.

This is according to a report from Stephen Totilo’s Game File, which cites a number of sources having stated that this week’s round of cuts were already planned as of early 2024. Said cuts saw 220 Bungie staff be laid off and more have their roles shifted over into both Sony Interactive Entertainment and a new PlayStation studio which is taking on development of a Bungie “incubation project”.

The report goes on to quote one anonymous former Bungie worker as asserting that if the studio hadn’t been acquired by Sony back in 2022, the “alternate history is insolvency.” It’s claimed that Bungie has repeatedly missed the financial targets set out by Sony, leading its management to have to conclude last year – seemingly with the studio’s autonomy on the line – that it would “make deep cuts to show Sony’s executives that it was taking its finances seriously”.

Those cuts have now come in two batches, with the latest following some which occured in late October 2023. The report asserts that the studio has lost money since the release of Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion in February 2023.

“I think Sony overpaid for Bungie,” one of the former employees told Totilo, “I think Bungie sold things they were just not able to deliver.” The views of the developers quoted in the report being more upset at Bungie management for the position the studio finds itself in than they are with Sony look to mirror the sentiments expressed by former employees on social media following this latest layoff announcement, with CEO Pete Parsons having faced calls to resign.

In the announcement of the layoffs, Parsons wrote that 2023 saw Bungie’s “rapid expansion [run] headlong into a broad economic slowdown, a sharp downturn in the games industry, our quality miss with Destiny 2: Lightfall, and the need to give both The Final Shape and Marathon the time needed to ensure both projects deliver at the quality our players expect and deserve”. He added that the studio had been “overly ambitious”, that its “financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded”, leading to Bungie “running in the red”.

For now, Bungie’s remaining staff are set to focus their efforts entirely on Destiny 2 and Marathon, with news of the latter having switched directors having broken back in March this year.