Update: Bungie CEO Pete Parsons took to X/Twitter to share some thoughts on the layoffs.
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” Parsons wrote. “What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.
“These are truly talented people. If you have openings, I would highly recommend each and every one of them.”
In addition to the layoffs, Bloomberg has reported that Destiny 2’s The FInal Shape DLC has been delayed from February 2024 to June 2024 and that Marathon has “slipped to 2025.”
The original story follows.
Destiny 2 developer Bungie has reportedly been affected by lay-offs, becoming the latest in a long line of video game studios to undergo downsizing in 2023.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said on X/Twitter that staff at the PlayStation Studios developer were informed of the lay-offs today, October 30.
The number of people affected by the downsizing is unclear, though Bungie CEO Pete Parsons reportedly emailed staff this morning to notify them of a meeting where they would be told more.
Though lay-offs aren’t uncommon in the video game industry, 2023 has proven particularly brutal for developers as myriad studios have been affected. Dreams creator and fellow PlayStation Studios developer Media Molecule saw a reduction of 20 staff members earlier in October, alongside F1 Manager studio Frontier Developments which was hit the same week.
The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has also undergone several rounds of lay-offs in 2023 as the studio restructures ahead of a major development boost, with the loss of jobs prompting some of its team to start a union for Polish game developers.
Epic Games also recently laid off 830 employees, a move that seriously affected Fall Guys developer Mediatonic, Telltale Games reportedly laid off most of its workers, and Worms maker Team17 also saw deep cuts.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.