Bungie Has Laid Off 220 Devs; Cutting 17% of Workforce

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Abiyan

At Tech4gamers, I cover all sorts of gaming news. Whether it’s a leak of any upcoming game or an update, an announcement, or a rumour, I like to write about it all. Over the weekend, I sit and write features where I talk about games that I miss or want to see return.

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Bungie is currently one of Sony’s biggest first-party studios. The studio has done remarkable work for Sony since Jim Ryan previously stated that the developer was more valuable than Activision would’ve ever been for PlayStation.

However, Bungie faced layoffs before the end of last year. While the exact numbers were unknown, it was still soul-crushing for many of the employees. Fast forward to today, and the team has announced another round of layoffs. The studio is now laying off around 17% of the workforce.

Why it matters: While the layoffs are devastating, the changes at Bungie go beyond basic layoffs. The studio is being fundamentally transformed by Sony.

Bungie’s official website confirms that the studio is eliminating 220 roles, representing 17% of the total workforce.

Moreover, 155 Bungie developers are being moved to Sony. 75 developers are also being shifted to an entirely new studio within PlayStation, working on a new sci-fi action game. All in all, these changes leave the original team with a huge gap.

Overall, the team is down to just 850 people from 1,300 developers. This is one of the most difficult decisions the company has made recently. Still, it states that this was necessary due to rising development costs, industry shifts, and economic conditions.

Bungie still remains confident about its future in the industry. It continues to work on Marathon and more Destiny content, catering to fans of first-person shooters. The team hopes that Destiny 2 will continue to thrive and appeal to millions of players in the future.

However, seeing so many layoffs this year is still very disappointing. PlayStation already laid off nearly 1,000 developers this year, and this announcement brings the total up even further.

Hopefully, this will be the last time we hear about such layoffs since the industry is rapidly bleeding talent.

Abiyan

[News Reporter]

Abiyan is on track to complete his Computer Science bachelor’s degree. His enthusiasm for writing and gaming motivates him to keep readers and gamers updated with the latest information from the industry. In his free time, Abiyan enjoys playing Dota 2 and Rocket League. Abiyan has also been cited in reputed websites such as Kitguru, Comicbook, GamingBible, Eurogamer and Gamingbolt.