At a time Sony repurchase Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, the company repeatedly claims that the people who created Halo and other hit titles will remain an “independent subsidiary”. However, currently, according to IGN’s latest report, if Destiny 2 Failing to reach revenue targets, Sony may disband Bungie’s current board of directors and take full control of the studio of about 1,100 people.
According to IGN, Bungie’s current board of directors includes PlayStation studio head Herman Hulst, Sony Senior Vice President Eric Lempel, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones, Bungie CTO Luis Villegas and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, with Parsons was the one who made the important decisions. However, this structure only exists based on the studio meeting certain financial goals. In case Bungie continues to fail, Sony will take full control of this longtime game company.
Following 100 layoffs at Bungie in October, Bloomberg reported that the studio’s 2023 revenue was 45% below forecast, with the launch of the Lightfall expansion disappointing. With the number of players Destiny 2 hits a historic low, at least on PC, IGN reports that it was Parsons – not Sony – who made the decision to lay off staff and implement other cost-cutting measures, to fill the void left by revenue.
According to IGN, these cost-cutting measures include a hiring freeze, limited annual cost-of-living adjustments to salaries, and no holiday bonuses. While the morale of the entire company is clearly extremely depressed, according to IGN’s report, senior management still seems to show “surprising indifference or even complete lack of seriousness or hostility” about this situation.
A source told IGN that the studio may have to lay off more employees if Destiny 2’s next major expansion, The Final Shape, doesn’t take off. Originally set to launch in February 2024, The Final Shape was recently delayed to June of the same year to give Bungie more time to improve it, while the mining shooter Marathon was announced recently. this has also been delayed until 2025.
It all paints an extremely grim picture of a studio that has historically thrived and is now struggling to maintain its independence. After developing several Halo titles for Microsoft, Bungie independently developed the first version of Destiny, partnering with Activision Blizzard to release it. Bungie later distanced itself from the deal with Activision in 2019, retaining all rights to the game. With the current state of the company, many people are wondering whether it happened due to wrong decisions by the board of directors, or due to pressure from excessive expectations from Sony.
