The New Path For Bungie

By Pete Parsons:
This morning, I’m sharing with all of you some of the most difficult changes we’ve ever had to make as a studio. Due to rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions, it has become clear that we need to make substantial changes to our cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on Destiny and Marathon.

[Sonic1881]

You mean Sony lays off 17% of Bungie workers. Sony acquiring Bungie was a joke as of right now 😃. What a big mess

[-Foxtrot]

We don't really know if it was Bungie themselves since they still had independence or Sony after Bungie failed to deliver again after being given a chance.

The deal apparently going off rumoured reports was that Bungie needed to sort themselves out internally, especially the higher management which was a huge issue for the studio and it's why Sony gave Bungie an extra $1.2 Billion to keep people on.

It was also apparently said that there was a clause within the deal that said if Bungie didn't hit their promised financial goals Sony would be able to take over and push the problematic studio board / CEO's out.

There's a new rumour that says this has come into play and that they've lost their independence. Hermen Hulst has apparently taken over running the studio. Is it true? Who knows but we'll soon see.

[Sonic1881]

Fair enough.

[BeHunted]

Bungie only has Destiny. They need more than one game that constantly brings in revenue instead of letting Destiny slowly lose players every month.

I still don't think Marathon is going to be successful

[RaiderNation]

I doubt Hulst is "running" the studio. He's running PlayStation.

[darthv72]

IF he is running the studio.... Id love to see Bungie's take on Killzone. Even if its a live service game, it would be nice having KZ back.

[-Foxtrot]

@RaiderNation

Might be the same thing, he's running the studio as in PlayStation is running the studio

Or it could mean he's running temporally as they find someone else to run it.

ALSO

https://x.com/dirtyeffinhip...

Seems like it was more Bungie. The devs are p****** and rightfully so.

[Cacabunga]

Bungie, no matter what if it’s another gaas it will be without me..

[Lightning77]

Already happening here.

First, we are deepening our integration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, working to integrate 155 of our roles, roughly 12%, into SIE over the next few quarters. SIE has worked tirelessly with us to identify roles for as many of our people as possible, enabling us together to save a great deal of talent that would otherwise have been affected by the reduction in force.   

I believe a Sony take over was talked about within Bungie for about a year now. Though they're lay offs happening, some of those employees will be absorbed within other Sony Studios.

[shinoff2183]

@darth

Im not a huge kill zone fan but I'd rather see that then marathon. So I'd agree

[Michiel1989]

@foxtrot stop jumping through hoops, sony is not immune to bad decisions or layoffs.

[-Foxtrot]

I didn’t say they were

I’m just not an idiot who can’t see the differences in circumstances here with the deals in place

If I was to ignore that then I’d be called a hot head who’s reacting without knowing all the facts

[--Onilink--]

Not that it justifies the layoffs, but I genuinely can’t comprehend how Bungie even had 1300 people in the first place with just 1 game generating revenue.

For context, Insomniac has 450 people and they still manage to have multiple teams working on separate projects and have a higher release frequency than most other game studios.

Even the reduced Bungie will still be practically twice as big as them.

I’ve always loved Destiny despite its flaws, but the current Bungie as a company has always felt like the epitome of inefficiency

[StormSnooper]

interesting take. I didn't think about it that way. Although, I don't presume to know the details of how companies may be in different economic circumstances, but on the face of it, you are absolutely correct. Now I wonder if Sony will be taking over the board as per their agreement or if they will try to mitigate the situation in some other manner. Either way, I hope Bungie's next game will be as big a hit as Destiny because I personally never got into that.

[Lightning77]

They got reduced to 850 staff members which is still allot of ppl but only working on one project for 10 years is pretty short sided. Considering the output that Insomniac does. Something needs to change at Bungie.

[--Onilink--]

@Lightning

Not even just Insomniac, since they are kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to efficiency.

But looking at other studios, Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, Warframe Dev, Respawn, all of them have between 250 and 400+ people.

Bungie had 1300 people even after the initial round of layoffs this year, which means they started 2024 with close to 1500 people.

Its honestly crazy how bad can a studio be managed to have a headcount of 1500 people and still think you are “spreading yourself too thin” by working on 2.5 projects

Even the new numbers dont even add up to that idea, since before it was 1500 people for 3 projects and now its 850 for 2. You are just as “thinly” spread as before

[Ra3030]

No, no this means Sony is 1 step closer to taking over and running Bungie. Bungie still controls Bungie as of today but clearly they don't know what their doing and Sony will take it over.....this is great news!

[DarXyde]

It does appear that there's a bias in the reporting where it's being framed as Bungie laying off workers.

Sony owns them. I don't think they're that autonomous. I really don't know, but regardless, I'm genuinely curious to see what comes next. More AI? If so, fire for them.

[TheExecutioner]

I feel empathy toward narrow-minded people

[OlderGamer17]

No Sony did'nt stop spreading lies, BUNGIE was bought by Sony with the restiction that they would be a full third party Developer. So they toke a risk. They must develop games for all systems, theyr decision.
That backfired. .That they have to let a lot of people go is theyr fault, not Sony's fault

[glennhkboy]

Hasn't Bungie already gone thru a massive layoff right after the takeover?

[-Foxtrot]

So when Sony gave them $1.2 Billion extra to make sure employees didn't leave, Bungie decides to cut jobs anyway...

What a bunch of arseholes

I bet that extra money went to the studio board over the hard workers.

[porkChop]

"I bet that extra money went to the studio board over the hard workers."

Let's put it this way. In less than 2 years Pete Parsons has spent over $2.7M buying vintage cars on BringATrailer. That includes a Porsche he bought for $201,000 just 3 weeks after the layoffs last October that he'd made some big sad post about. This is the same guy that, just 3 days before the layoffs, went around bragging about his expensive cars and inviting a bunch of female employees over to "look at the cars".

Conveniently, Bungie also doesn't withhold exec bonuses when doing layoffs because they "aren't that kind of company".

[Fishy Fingers]

"Bungie decides"

So we're saying Sony bought them, owns them, then handed them an extra billion dollars of additional funding only then to closed their eyes, put their fingers in their ears and don't ask how any of those funds were being allocated or used, nor do they have any control over what Bungie, a subsidiary of their company does?

wtf :D

[-Foxtrot]

The deal was they let Bungie be independent, they asked them to sort their shit out, they gave them money during this time so people wouldn't leave or get fired and then waited on financial results to see if they had turned things around on their own. They didn't. Layoffs still happened and now Sony is taking control.

It's called giving them a chance but Bungies leadership decided to spit it back in Sony's face.

Sony f****** up buying them, a stupid reaction to Microsoft buying Zenimax but now they have to deal with the mess they are in.

[Fishy Fingers]

Bro, if you think Sony aquired something for 3.6b, then give them a further 1.2b (nearly 5% of their net worth) only to let them operate completely independently without any saying, insight or approval you're playing the fool.

"Heres $5bil, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best" :\

Sony was "in control" the day the acquisition was signed.

[Babadook7]

@Fishy

So you'd rather have Sony do what MS does? Take control and run another great company to the ground with corporate overreach?

[just_looken]

Top studio brass making more than those in the trenches na that never happens /s

Well regardless this is another live service fiasco

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Song overpaid for Bungie, 3.7 billion seemed overly steep at the time of acquisition. I think Bungie is missing revenue targets. Employees across the game industry need increased job protection.

[Demetrius]

Exactly it always go to the higher ups or whatever lil name makes em feel important in their heads smh. Shhi so irritating, I remember at a job I used to work management bragged about bonuses THEY get paid with cause we doing good during busy hours, we'd be working hard while they look around yelling HEY DONT SLACK UP smh folks really lame af

[Relientk77]

What a waste of money this was for Sony. Never should have bought them. There's so many better studios out there.

[Sonic1881]

Like CDPR

[StormSnooper]

I don't think so. Bungie is a mega hit maker in the multiplayer sphere, that no one can take from them. I think Sony needed Bungie's expertise in that department so I don't think the purchase was bad for them. Now that, according to people here, Sony has the right to fully take over Management, it will be an even better proposition for Sony(presumably).

[porkChop]

"Sony needed Bungie's expertise in that department"

Oh wow, look at how well that's worked out for them. While Bungie has been in charge of their MP focus they've cancelled projects, shut down studios, while serving up GAAS titles like Concord that no one asked for. Yeah that was $3.7B well spent.

[StormSnooper]

What are you talking about? Are you living in alternate reality? If you are going to blame other studios on Bungie, then the success of Helldivers goes to Bungie too. Based on that, Bungie has been incredible then.

Meanwhile, MS cancelled projects, shut down studios, while ONLY serving up GAAS and nothing else. Yeah that was $85.00B well spent.

[shinoff2183]

Agreed. I'd rather they went after some rpgs studios or publisher.

[shadowT]

Xbox Game Studios should hire

[Eonjay]

About that...

[DodoDojo]

343 is hiring, so let's make Halo great again.

[StormSnooper]

After laying off half their developers?

[thesoftware730]

MS buys a publisher, lays off workers they = the devil

Sony Buys a Publisher and lays off workers they = nah, it's all Bungie, Sony has nothing to do with it except trying to help.

I know I will see the defense force come out and attempt to give technicalities, most of which are speculations about the Sony/Bungie deal. But at the end of the day, Bungie is OWNED by Sony, and if we wanna say semi-independent, the same can be said about Bethesda and A/B, as MS has said as much.

[Reaper22_]

I'm glad someone notice that double standard. All I see is people making excuses for. Come on people, sony owns Bungie. They laid people off. Point blank period. It happens all the time in the industry. Microsoft should swoop in and bring them back. They were a better studio when they were microsoft.

[ChasterMies]

Microsoft is a $3T company. Comparing Sony to Microsoft is like comparing a family owned diner to McDonalds.

[DodoDojo]

Sony is a company worth over 100 billion, they're not exactly the little guy you're trying to make them out to be.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

“ Microsoft is a $3T company. Comparing Sony to Microsoft is like comparing a family owned diner to McDonalds.”
I don’t think this comparison is accurate or appropriate as Sony is a top 3 gaming company in terms of annual revenue.

[shinoff2183]

I mean it says right in it Sony gave an extra 1.2 billion dollars to save jobs. What the fk else you want software?

[-Foxtrot]

Exactly. People want to use these job losses to play fanboy wars not realising this is a different scenario.

Sony gave them money to stop people leaving, they are now trying to relocate as many as they can within SIE, what else can they do at this point? If people want to bring Microsoft into this then okay, where was this trillion dollar company during all their lay offs, you know closing a studio like Tango despite giving Microsoft a hit game.

I mean there's people who were fired on Twitter saying it's not all on Sony, it's on Bungie's shitty management

The only thing you can say here about Sony is that they are f***** idiots for buying Bungie in the first place.

[DodoDojo]

You guys have been spreading that misinformation for awhile. The 1.2 billion Sony gave wasn't to prevent Bungie from letting people go, but instead used as enticement so that employees wouldn't leave on their own accord.

Seriously did you guys even read the story when that news broke?
https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

"Sony says it is prepared to pay 1/3rd of its $3.6 billion buyout proposal, or roughly $1.2 billion, on a long-term incentive plan that will reward Bungie employees who stay with the company"

How in the world did you get that Sony paid Bungie so that they could avoid layoffs?

[thesoftware730]

Did it save jobs?

Are you implying that Sony owns Bungie and had nothing to do with this situation?

This is why I said technicalities about the deal , the situation is similar to what MS did and they were crucified.

MS also resuffled some employees, and had a lot of overlapping positions, it was a very similar situation.. even the title of this article is a spin.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Sounds exactly like Sony = devil for announcing the closure of the PS3/vita store vs Microsoft = nah it's okay to close 360 store now. But to the shock of absolutely nobody, you have nothing to say about that. I wonder if it has to do with who is deemed the "devil" in which case I wonder 🤔?

I'm sure you and the defense will come up with some technicalities, but In the end it's the same thing but you're just being hypocritical about it.

[thesoftware730]

What is bloody hell does that have to to with this situation or topic?

You sound like almost child like, please find anywhere that I have ever said anything about PS3 store closing? I don't give a shit about the 360 store or the PS3 store closing, so I don't comment on it.

People that care about it comment on it, feel how they want about it, but not me because once again I don't care, I didn't even click the article because it means very little to me.

What a silly deflection and argument, stay focused man.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"What is bloody hell does that have to to with this situation or topic?"

What the bloody hell does Microsoft have to do with this article hmmm?

You want to point out double standards and hypocrisy, and I'm pointing out another instance where the roles reversed. You have shown time and time again to only seem to have that itch to call it when it's certain way........ don't get mad at me for pointing that out.

[thesoftware730]

The situation is very similar, with buying a pub and laying off workers, you jumping all over the place, there is an article for what you are talking about .

Again try to have some kind of structure to your arguments, you are all over the place, it makes any debate with you silly, you barely ever touch on any points, you just deflect to something else, or make your no point revolve around me, very squirly.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

How am I all over the place? I think my point is very very clear. You just don't want to acknowledge and address your hypocrisy.

****"The situation is very similar, with buying a pub and laying off workers,"***

Okay, l'll bite and play your "I know exactly what you are talking, but will pretend I don't know and call you silly" game.

What does Sony buying Bungie and laying off staff have to do with Microsoft? Other than MS doing something similar in the past it's completely irrelevant here. Sony and Bungie made this decision of their own accord and would have done so with or without MS doing their own round of layoffs. An article for what you are talking had already occurred, you might have missed that.

Bringing MS into this makes you look really silly and forcing a console war debacle that shouldn't be had. How about focusing on Bungie and Sony what this means for PlayStation as a whole and not your no point resolve with MS having nothing to do with this layoff.

Am I no longer jumping all over the place, but instead structured without any deflection now?

[thesoftware730]

"What does Sony buying Bungie and laying off staff have to do with Microsoft? Other than MS doing something similar in the past it's completely irrelevant here"

Ok, there you have it, you answered the question, the similarity...competing companies do something similar and this topic is about that similar thing. My comment was to show the difference in reaction to a similar situation by you and the S Brigade when it concerned MS.

"Bringing MS into this makes you look silly and forcing a console war debacle that shouldn't be had."

I beg to differ, I was not promoting a console war lol, I was showing the hypocrisy that exists on this site, and also maybe, possibly attempting to make a rational person see that they are being hypocritical and maybe in the future have the foresight to be more objective when posting. Say what you will about me, but I do not dislike Sony or Sony games, I already let you know, that I think Nintendo is the best in the business, and I play their games all the time with my kids also.

"Am I no longer jumping all over the place, but instead structured without any deflection now?"

Yes, while you still miss the mark, I am glad I could teach you something...do that more often, it does wonders while posing an argument or issue.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

***"My comment was to show the difference in reaction to a similar situation by you and the S Brigade when it concerned MS"***

Aaaaand that's exactly what I was showing you and the MS Brigade when the roles are reversed. MS has nothing at all to do with this article but you brought them up to show a difference in reaction. I did the same to counter your call out.

***"I was showing the hypocrisy that exists on this site, and also maybe, possibly attempting to make a rational person see that they are being hypocritical and maybe in the future have the foresight to be more objective when posting."***

I was also pointing the hypocrisy on this site. Hopefully to enlighten you and the MS Brigade in the future that you'll acknowledge it when the roles are reversed.

***"Say what you will about me, but I do not dislike Sony or Sony games, I already let you know, that I think Nintendo is the best in the business, and I play their games all the time with my kids also."***

I said nothing about disliking Sony or their games. I don't care if you or anyone does. I'm pointing out the lack of acknowledgement of hypocrisy when the roles are reversed.

***"Yes, while you still miss the mark, I am glad I could teach you something...do that more often, it does wonders while posing an argument or issue."***

Once again my point was quite clear to anyone with a working brain or isn't being purposefully disingenuous. Maybe you should heed your own teachings and stick to the subject of the article seeing how MS has nothing at all to do with this, eh?

[thesoftware730]

lol,

You miss the mark every time and talk in circles. The hypocrisy that you are attempting to integrate into this situation is not relevant, look I'll show you an example.

"Once again my point was quite clear to anyone with a working brain or isn't being purposefully disingenuous."

I like that part though at least it was a bit new and avoided being a broken record. This is the very reason I usually stop responding to you, you either don't believe what I say, meaning you think I'm lying in my stance, or I'm dumb, which I can assure you doesn't fit my profile lol.

So once again, while mildly entertaining, there is no point in continuing, good day to you sir.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"You miss the mark every time and talk in circles. The hypocrisy that you are attempting to integrate into this situation is not relevant"

Lol, Why is not? Because you say so? Or because it diminishes the point you're trying to make? I'm literally using your reasoning for why it is relevant.

And you are no stranger to bringing up irrelevant things into a situation so I don't understand why you try to hold others to a standard that you don't do yourself lol: https://n4g.com/news/260310...

"This is the very reason I usually stop responding to you"

You stop responding because you are wrong, but whatever helps you get through your day I guess. Until next time sir.

[Knightofelemia]

Sony purchasing Bungie was a mistake.

[XxSPIDEYxX]

Sony made terrible, uncharacteristic moves purchasing Bungie, Firewalk, and Haven. So much wasted millions. I blame Herman Hulst.

[Lightning77]

You mean Jim Ryan. Ryan spent billions around 50% of their budget on LS games.

Jim just blindly through money at LS stuff with out a thought. It's all his mess hopefully Herman cam clean it up but I don't know if he can tbh.

[ChasterMies]

220 more people are losing their jobs at Bungie because Bungie’s leadership is bad at managing a game with the best gameplay on the market. The job losses should have started from the top about 10 years ago.

[mkis007]

This is exactly why relationships are important before acquisitions. Sony messed up with a few purchases. That said it looks like the takeover has officially begun.

[Reaper22_]

Lol...they're not taking over anything. Sony probably gave the the okay to do this. It's not like this happened over night. This just goes to show that when it comes to this sort of stuff sony is no different from any other company. But I did notice how they changed the title of the article from bungie layoffs to new path for bungie. It hilarious and pitiful at the same time.

[franwex]

Need funds?
Make a new Halo game…?

Release on Xbox and ps5?

[Sitdown]

Is this a comment for Microsoft, Sony or Bungie?

[franwex]

Bungie. But I was being facetious. I forget that n4g is a super serious site.

[Sitdown]

It is, look at how I got downvotes for asking a question. And you got downvotes for humor and telling the truth.

[Cockney]

Get a room guys

[pwnmaster3000]

Honestly Sony deserve this. I have no idea why they bought bungie out of all the Studio. They usually go for their close partners but this is out of no where. Probably got scared because of MS was buying up the market.

[TwoPicklesGood]

Big L from Sony but Destiny isn’t anything what it used to be and some change is needed. They are betting on Marathon but I’m not. Bungie needs to do something grand not another scifi fps especially one that’s live service. Sony wasted a lot of money on Bungie and they aren’t delivering.

[Petebloodyonion]

Ouch 17% is quite massive :(

[gleepot]

screw pete parsons

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

To think Sony paid 12 times more for Bungie than they did to acquire Insomniac games. No matter how much some want to deny it, the purchase of Bungie was clearly a panic buy made right after the MS purchase of Activision (losing 13% in stock value the next day can have that effect). Once Sony actually saw Bungie's revenue numbers, the **** really hit the fan and now Sony has to take over Bungie.

[Good-Smurf]

Wait, why is this one blew up all of sudden?
All these Sony/Microsoft acquired studios got laid off employees this past year and this year so far.

[CrimsonIdol]

I don't get Marathon at all. They had a winner in the bag to bring back that IP good and proper and what do they do? a fuckin' extraction shooter that seems completely unrelated in both tone and concept.

[InUrFoxHole]

This is exactly what happens when you're allowed to consolidate the market and... oh wait no I forgot thats not the talking point.

[gold_drake]

maybe ur boss shouldnt buy old cars hes never driving.
im sure that money would have helped out Bungie.

bunch of idiots.

[rlow1]

Sony apologists, that’s all I’m hearing. Sony full and well took over period. Keep defending all you all want. This was a power play and now a once great and independent studio is dead. @RIP Bungie

[DiRtY]

This industry really tests you sometimes.

I hope they will land on their feet.
But the way this industry is going is worrying.

Remember the PS360 era: Epic Games released an entire trilogy of a newly created AAA franchise (Gears of War) on Xbox 360.

Naughty Dog did the same with Uncharted on PS3.

Now look at today’s situation: The Coalition just announced their first game this generation (Gears of War eDay) and helped a different studio with Gears Tactics.

Naughty Dog made 2 remasters and no announcements so far.

Xbox Series / PS5 will be in their 5th year in a few months and that is their whole output.

Both are high quality studios and every fanboy on either side has to respect their quality.

But rising costs and these development circles are just not sustainable at the end of the day.

Meanwhile a game like Fortnite generates as much revenue as all PlayStation 5 console sales so far (!!!) with skins and season passes.

I might sound like a grumpy old man, but I miss the old days.

[ocelot07]

I read on X not sure how true it is. But the people who have been layed off is moving to a new studio under the Sony banner.

But I'm starting to think Sony buying bungi was a mistake. Didn't Sony give them a extra billion to keep employees? What happened to that money.

[purple101]

Layoffs 220 Employees

• 155 Employees Moving To Sony Interactive Entertainment

• 75 Developers Moving To New PlayStation Studio

• New PlayStation Studio Formed

• Incubation Project: An Action Game Set In A Brand New Science Fantasy Universe

[DiRtY]

If that was the case, I'll bet the wording of this release would have been very different.

[TheSenorCheese]

Gotta make sure the path is carved out for Pete to drive his 24 classic cars on.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

I know they are promoting MARATHON as a multi-player game . But would be awesome to have a single player campaign. Also have Nightdive remaster the MARATHON games from the 90s to help introduce players to the MARATHON games .