Bungie Cuts Nearly Half Its Workforce, Laying Off Around 400 Employees After Marathon’s Failure

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The Studio Did Confirm Work On Future Projects!

Story Highlight
  • Sony confirms layoffs at Bungie.
  • It is reported that nearly half of the studio staff have been let go, nearly 400 workers to be precise.
  • Anyhow, Sony confirms that the studio is actively working on newer projects, most probably a new Destiny game. 

Bungie has a long history of working on cult classics, initially the Halo franchise and more recently the Destiny games. However, in recent times, the studio has become a shadow of its former self, as evidenced by its latest release, Marathon.

Following the disappointing launch of the extraction live-service shooter under Sony, the studio is now reducing its workforce by nearly 50%, resulting in nearly 400 developers being without a job.

Why it matters: Live-service games are bound to fail in times like these, and Bungie has been more of a burden to Sony ever since the studio was acquired by the gaming giant, which is why layoffs are happening in the first place. 

bungie layoffs
Journalist With More Details On The Bungie Layoff Situation || X

In a new SIE blog post, it was confirmed that Bungie would be facing layoffs, but the total number of affected employees was unknown. Speaking about the situation on social media, renowned journalist Paul Tassi stated that around 400 people were affected, which is half of the total studio.

Layoffs at Bungie were already expected, but no one imagined it would be on this scale. Bungie has already stopped updates for Destiny 2 after more than a decade for the same reason, but updates for Marathon are still expected despite the game flopping.

Bungie Marathon
Sony Leadership Blamed Bungie For It’s Live-Service Genre Failure

At the time of writing, Marathon has fewer than 5k players on Steam, and for a game costing more than $200 million, those numbers are pretty underwhelming. If the situation further deteriorates, Sony may even pull the plug on the game sooner than expected, as they did with Concord (Déjà vu all over again). 

Anyhow, Bungie still lives on, and, according to SIE’s blog, the studio is working on future projects in “incubation phases.” Naturally, expect a new Destiny game, especially since updates on the last title have now ended, meaning that the studio is shifting its workforce towards other projects. 

What are your thoughts on these Bungie layoffs? Let us know in the comments below, or at the official Tech4Gamers Forums

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