Bungie misrepresented its funds and had considerably overextended itself when Sony acquired the studio for $3.6 billion in 2022, former employees claimed in a brand new Sport File report revealed within the wake of Wednesday’s layoffs.
It was apparently dangerous sufficient that not less than one supply described as a “well-connected former employee” went as far as to say that Bungie confronted dire penalties if the acquisition hadn’t occurred, saying that the “alternate historical past is insolvency.”
Their feedback paint the image of a studio that was struggling regardless of the success of Future and Future 2 on account of supporting too many initiatives and different issues. Following the Sony acquisition, Sport File’s sources declare Bungie repeatedly missed its monetary targets, resulting in roughly 100 workers being laid off in November 2023.
A second spherical of layoffs adopted on Wednesday, impacting one other 220 individuals, or 17 p.c of the studio’s workforce, with one other 155 being built-in elsewhere in Sony Interactive Leisure. Bungie can also be spinning out one in all its incubation initiatives to kind a brand new studio below the PlayStation banner.
Inside Bungie, the layoffs had been anticipated for a while. In December 2023, IGN reported that the sensation inside the studio was that it confronted extra reductions if The Remaining Form did not do effectively. However in keeping with Sport File’s supply, even The Remaining Form being a serious blockbuster success could not have stopped the layoffs. Certainly, with Future 2 on the wane some seven years after its unique launch, The Remaining Form reportedly did not outsell the earlier growth, Lightfall, regardless of being a important success.
Former Bungie employees and different members of the video games trade have been vocal within the wake of the layoffs, with lots of them blaming the studio’s management led by CEO Pete Parsons. Their sentiments have been echoed by these in Sport File’s report, claiming that Bungie “offered issues they have been simply not capable of ship.” Parsons, for his half, blamed the cuts on the rising prices of growth and “enduring financial circumstances,” confirming that the studio had been “working within the crimson” following delays to The Remaining Form and Marathon.
Bungie is much from alone in being hit with layoffs, with different publishers together with EA, Xbox, Riot, and others additionally introducing cutbacks in what has been a tough yr for the video games trade. For now, it’s going to proceed to focus its efforts solely on Future and the upcoming Marathon, which doesn’t have a launch date and is at present set for a while in 2025.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Information Director in addition to co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Ship her a DM at @the_katbot.
