The latest company to face layoffs is feeling the pain in a particularly intense year for the gaming industry.
Bungie Lays Off – More to Come
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons unveiled a restructuring plan on Wednesday that would cut 220 positions, integrate 155 positions into other parts of the Sony Interactive Entertainment business and form a new studio of nearly 40 people under PlayStation, reportedly. He cited "rising development costs and industry shifts" and "continued economic conditions" as the reason.
This follows a previous round of layoffs in November last year, which saw Bungie cut around 100 jobs. This preceded a series of more than 11,000 layoffs across the gaming industry by 2024, surpassing last year’s layoffs but by more than double the time.
The original developers of the first “Halo” games for Microsoft’s Xbox consoles, Bungie has a complex history of operating both independently and under major corporations. After Bungie became independent from Microsoft in 2007, it eventually pivoted from “Halo” to “Destiny,” a live-service franchise published exclusively by Activision until Bungie acquired the publishing rights in 2019.
