More details have just come out regarding an October 30, 2023 round of layoffs at Bungie Studios. Jason Schreier said on X that the CEO of Bungie, Pete Parsons, informed employees via email as well as announced a team meeting to be held that day. At the time specifics on the scope of these layoffs were unknown but further details have since come out from both current and former employees estimating that around 100 jobs were cut. 8% of Bungie's estimated 1,200 employees.

According to Parsons, these layoffs were largely due to poor sales and the underperformance of Destiny 2. Executives reportedly told employees two weeks ago that revenue for the year was 45% below expectations due to low player retention after peak player numbers during the launch of Destiny 2's Lightfall Expansion earlier this year. This coupled with lower-than-expected preorders for Destiny 2's upcoming The Final Shape Expansion was too much for Bungie as it has now been confirmed that both The Final Shape and next year's Marathon Expansions have been delayed to 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Employees were told during the team meeting that player sentiment for Destiny 2 was at a record low. According to some employees, leadership has been flagged and aware of this issue for months prior to the layoffs and many employees implored Bungie to make necessary changes in order to win players back.

These layoffs have confused many employees as many were reassured that there would be no layoffs following  Sony's acquisition of Bungie in 2022 with a reported 1.2 Billion dollars of the 4 Billion dollar acquisition specifically going to employee staff retention. Other employees told IGN that they felt especially frustrated with the layoffs considering the company had just completed work on a new headquarters in Bellevue, Washington that was twice the size of the previous office. Regardless, following these events, Parsons made a statement on X expressing his sentiment on the situation.

Per company policy, employees will continue to receive three months of health insurance and at least three months of severance pay. Unfortunately, these employees will be losing their shares gained from Sony's acquisition of Bungie that were not vested, which many were not as these shares would be received based on staying with the company for a certain number of years, regardless if they were fired.

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