- Sony Studios chief Herman Hulst says that Bungie layoffs were necessary for its survival.
- Sony and Bungie leadership explored multiple other alternatives before landing on this decision.
- Nearly half the Bungie team got sacked, and studio head Justin Truman also stepped down.
Bungie was once one of the live-service behemoths in the gaming scene, but repeated Destiny 2 failures over the years and the controversial launch of Marathon have dragged the studio down. Therefore, Sony fired nearly half of the studio in a new wave of layoffs.
Over 400 employees were let go, most of them being the Destiny 2 staff and some Marathon developers. The Sony Studios chief now says that these layoffs were necessary for the remaining studio’s survival.
Why it matters: Sony’s official statement implies it tried to work out a different path with Bungie but still landed on layoffs. The studio’s future looks quite uncertain as it attempts to find its footing with the struggling Marathon.
In a new statement, Sony Studios boss Herman Hulst says Sony leadership sat down with Bungie executives many times over the past several months to explore multiple alternatives. Therefore, this decision was only made after intensive discussion and consideration.
It was ultimately concluded that significant layoffs were necessary to achieve the studio’s current priorities and long-term goals.
We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals.
-Sony Studios Chief, Hermen Hulst.
Bungie studio head Justin Truman also stepped down in the aftermath of the layoffs.
Regardless, Marathon remains Bungie’s biggest and immediate priority moving forward. We can expect a slew of content in forthcoming seasons, even if the game struggles to retain a large enough player base.
Incubation efforts on future projects are also already in progress, so we could see a new mainline Destiny title spawn over the course of this decade.
Previous reports suggested that Sony leadership blamed Bungie for its live-service woes over the years. An ex-developer also claimed that the studio culture was quite toxic, as it forgot people play games for fun.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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