Destiny 2 Developer Bungie Is Laying Off 220 Employees And Game Devs React

Bungie will see a major reduction to its headcount, according to a letter posted by CEO Pete Parsons detailing the layoffs. The game studio will be losing 220 employees, or 17% of its staff. Moreover, another 155 employees, comprising 12% of its staff, will be shifted to Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) over the course of the next few quarters. Lastly, a small group of staff who are incubating a new project will be making its way to PlayStation Studios.

Parsons lays out how Bungie got to this low point, explaining that the studio had become overly ambitious in its vision to create more big franchises to supplement what it had achieved with Destiny. “To realize that ambition, we set up several incubation projects, each seeded with senior development leaders from our existing teams. We eventually realized that this model stretched our talent too thin, too quickly,” said Parsons. Even becoming acquired by Sony in 2022 didn’t save Bungie from this fate.

Employees whose jobs were spared had blunt thoughts about the news. Destiny 2’s Global Community Lead posted, “Inexcusable. Industry leading talent being lost, yet again. Accountability falling upon the workers who have pushed the needle to deliver for our community time and time again.” A Technical UX Designer on the team also posted, “This is hitting people who were told they were valued. That they were important. That they were critical to business success. But none of that mattered.”


The problem for Bungie is that it still has two massive projects it’s working on in Destiny and Marathon. If the studio was already stretched thin with the current headcount, how will it be able to get Marathon out in a reasonable time frame while still maintaining Destiny? This sounds like a recipe for crunch, and the likely scenario that more talent leaves because of these working conditions.

At the very least, it seems as if Bungie was able to minimize the blow by having SIE pick up 155 employees. Meanwhile, the employees who were affected by these layoffs will be receiving a little help from the studio as they navigate these difficult times. Parsons says that these employees will be receiving “a generous exit package, including severance, bonus and health coverage.”

Hopefully everyone negatively impacted by this move are able to land on their feet, and that Bungie manages to find a viable path forward.