{"id":1683860,"date":"2026-09-04T21:21:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/VfF4DDqfnBLkof5EtVjZAN"},"modified":"2026-09-04T21:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:21:31","slug":"after-a-massive-2021-office-expansion-bungie-is-now-trying-to-sublease-its-211000-square-foot-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/after-a-massive-2021-office-expansion-bungie-is-now-trying-to-sublease-its-211000-square-foot-headquarters\/","title":{"rendered":"After a massive 2021 office expansion, Bungie is now trying to sublease its 211,000 square foot headquarters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2021, as studio CEO Pete Parsons cited the company’s recent “tremendous growth and opportunity,” Bungie announced its plans for a massive expansion to its Bellevue, Washington headquarters<\/a>. The campus embiggening, which internal sources have reportedly described<\/a> as costing “hundreds of millions” of dollars, more than doubled the size of Bungie’s offices from 84,000 square feet to just under 211,000.<\/p>\n

Now, after five and a half years of spending sprees, publisher acquisitions, stumbling product launches, project cancellations, and repeated mass layoffs, Bungie appears to be seeking subletters for the goliath game development headquarters it’s no longer capable of filling.<\/p>\n

According to a 10-page leasing brochure reviewed by The Game Post<\/a>, Bungie is seeking interested renters to sublease its expansive headquarters, listing its 210,984 square feet as a “turn-key” production facility. In addition to expected office fixtures, the listing also features a dedicated lobby, gym and exercise facilities (including a rock climbing wall), a motion-capture studio, a cafe, catering space, and a private exterior patio.<\/p>\n

While the brochure didn’t directly identify the studio, a statement provided to press verified that Bungie was actively pursuing a sublease.<\/p>\n

“Bungie is exploring options to sublease its campus in Bellevue, Washington. The studio transitioned to a digital-first model several years ago, and this move reflects the team’s evolving workplace needs and the effectiveness of its remote collaboration,” Bungie said. “Bungie will continue to maintain a physical office presence in Bellevue.”<\/p>\n

Bungie formally adopted remote work eligibility<\/a> for most of its roles in 2022, following the studio’s shift to work-from-home development during the COVID-19 lockdown years\u2014effectively defeating the purpose of its office expansion due to circumstances that would have been impossible to predict during its early planning stages.<\/p>\n

Bungie wasn’t the only games company to make ill-fated investments during the height of the pandemic: Analysts have repeatedly cited overly-ambitious expansions and acquisitions\u2014propelled by the COVID era’s low interests rates and explosion of at-home entertainment revenue\u2014as one of the driving forces behind the games industry’s brutal cost-cutting in the years that followed.<\/p>\n

Bungie’s overextension, however, was particularly drastic. After Sony purchased the studio for $3.6 billion in 2022<\/a>, Bungie leadership embarked on a rampant hiring spree, adding hundreds of developers to the payroll to fill out development teams for a swath of simultaneous incubation projects\u2014projects that would prove unsustainable as the impact of Covid waned and revenues started to tumble across the industry.<\/p>\n

A mass layoff followed in October 2023<\/a>, affecting roughly 100 employees. The next round cut 220 developers in July 2024<\/a> as fallout from Bungie leadership having reportedly “overstated their studio\u2019s financial prospects to Sony,” leading to a dire enough fiscal outlook that even the success of Destiny 2’s Final Shape expansion couldn’t salvage it. As Sony intensified its oversight<\/a> amidst the mounting turmoil, Bungie’s leadership began to abandon ship, culminating with Pete Parsons departing the studio<\/a> in 2025\u2014presumably in one of his vintage collector cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bungie staff ultimately suffered another sweeping layoff<\/a> in June 2026, with most of the Destiny team losing their jobs in the aftermath of Destiny 2’s end of live service. At peak employment, Bungie’s staff numbered over 1,600; in July 2024, Parsons said the studio numbered around 850<\/a>. The WARN notice issued for this June’s layoff indicated at least 292 jobs<\/a> were affected.<\/p>\n

In other words, if all of Bungie’s remaining employees gathered in its office, there would be fewer than 600 people to fill its 211,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested, the master lease runs through September 30, 2035.<\/p>\n

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