It reportedly didn’t matter whether Destiny 2‘s The Final Shape expansion delivered a “blockbuster performance”, Bungie’s latest layoffs were in the works prior to its release and “couldn’t be avoided” even if the much-hyped bit of DLC, which garnered a positive reception, had been a runaway commercial success.
This is according to a report from Stephen Totilo’s Game File, which cites a number of sources having stated that this week’s round of cuts were already planned as of early 2024. Said cuts saw 220 Bungie staff be laid off and more have their roles shifted over into both Sony Interactive Entertainment and a new PlayStation studio which is taking on development of a Bungie “incubation project”.
The report goes on to quote one anonymous former Bungie worker as asserting that if the studio hadn’t been acquired by Sony back in 2022, the “alternate history is insolvency.” It’s claimed that Bungie has repeatedly missed the financial targets set out by Sony, leading its management to have to conclude last year – seemingly with the studio’s autonomy on the line – that it would “make deep cuts to show Sony’s executives that it was taking its finances seriously”.
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