One of 2023’s most depressing trends is major games studios laying off employees in an increasingly crowded job market. Now Bungie has become the latest PlayStation studio to do so, though the extent of the layoffs is not yet clear.
Community manager Liana Ruppert announced on X that she was affected by the latest round of layoffs. Shortly after, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reported that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons is calling a team meeting within the company later today. Bungie has not yet confirmed the layoffs or the number of employees who have been affected. Social media lead Griffin Bennett also confirmed that he’d been affected by the layoffs.
Schreier later reported that Bungie had recently delayed an upcoming expansion to Destiny 2 called The Final Shape, though this had not been made public before the layoffs. The Final Shape is set to launch sometime in February 2024. Bungie also delayed another game, Marathon, to 2025.
Sony acquired Bungie in January 2022 for $3.6 billion, one of many studios the company acquired throughout 2022 and 2023. PlayStation Visual Arts studio reported layoffs earlier this month, and Naughty Dog reportedly cut the contracts of several workers.