Destiny developer Bungie is the latest video game company to be affected by redundancies this year, as an unknown number of staff are facing layoffs.
In a post on Twitter yesterday (October 30), Bungie CEO and chairman Pete Parsons described everyone affected as “truly talented people”, and said that it was a “sad day at Bungie”.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” he wrote. “What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.
“These are truly talented people. If you have openings, I would highly recommend each and every one of them.”
Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio. What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.October 30, 2023
One of the people affected is Griffin Bennett, social media lead for Bungie. On Twitter, Bennett wrote: “I’ve been laid off from Bungie. A surreal thing to write as I sit here pondering what went wrong. I’m still processing it all and while my first instinct is anger I know I’d regret what I’d say. Thank you to everyone at Bungie who helped make my last five plus years the best ever.”
Also impacted is Destiny 2 community manager and Bungie’s co-lead of accessibility, Liana Ruppert, who tweeted: “Well… my heart is breaking for all affected. I am now looking for opportunities. I have 21 years of games industry experience in media, production, and community management. I’m processing, I’m so heartbroken. I don’t know what to do from here… this was my home. I feel so lost.”
This year, several other game companies have seen significant cuts to staff. Back in September, Fortnite developer Epic Games announced it would be laying off over 800 employees (around 16% of its workforce), as its CEO Tim Sweeney said: “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but, in retrospect, I see that this was unrealistic.”
As well as the Destiny series, Bungie is known for developing the original Halo games, which are still some of the best FPS games. You can find more recommendations on our roundup of the best Xbox Series X games.