The woes for developer Bungie don’t seem to be ending anytime soon. The developer has been facing challenging times, one after the other. And now they’ve faced another massive blow which could affect their already declining revenues even further.
Recently, the company laid off many of its employees, including industry veterans who had been with them for decades. A Bloomberg report suggests that the developer let go of around 100 employees, which made up about 8% of the company’s workforce. Sony-owned Bungie reportedly told employees that the “revenue was running 45% below projections for the year.”
Among the list of employees that Bungie released was Michael Salvatori, a veteran composer who had been with Bungie since 1997. Salvatori expressed his feelings on the lay-off, saying, “I’m still sorting through my emotions. Many of my close friends were also let go, and I feel terrible for them.”
Bungie‘s CEO Pete Parsons hosted a meeting to address the lay-off. A report by IGN said that he allegedly told the remaining employees that the company had retained only “the right people” to continue working on the Destiny 2 title.
Additionally, he also informed employees that the reason for the layoffs was mainly due to the “underperformance of Destiny 2 over the last year”, and “lower-than-expected preorders” for The Final Shape.
Fans refund The Final Shape pre-orders
A day after the news of Bungie lay-offs broke out, Destiny 2 players are uniting to express their displeasure towards the decision by canceling their pre-orders for the upcoming expansion, The Final Shape. Additionally, reports also suggest that The Final Shape, the last expansion in Destiny’s 10-year Light and Darkness journey, has been pushed back. It was earlier supposed to be launched in February 2024 and will now be released in June 2024.
The news of layoffs came as a shock for the employees and fans alike. While many players expressed their discontent on social media platforms, many others are voicing their vexation by canceling their pre-orders for The Final Shape. The fans are doing this as a gesture of solidarity with the affected employees.
X (formerly Twitter) was flooded with players sharing the update that they had canceled their pre-order and requested a refund. A user wrote, “I wanted to give them a chance, but nah. I’ll buy it maybe when it’s discounted,” along with a picture of the cancelation and refund status.
I wanted to give them a chance, but nah. I'll buy it maybe when it's discounted. pic.twitter.com/pvCktdeVN3
— EGM (@EGM_TM) November 1, 2023
On the subreddit, DestinyTheGame, fans are boycotting The Final Shape expansion by expressing their collective frustration. One post from Reddit user u/Eigenspace, which has garnered over two thousand upvotes and nearly four hundred comments, notes that they “bought a preorder pack expecting that the content would release on a certain day and meet a certain level of quality.”
However, the reported layoffs and the current situation at Bungie are “reasonable grounds to request a refund.” Another Reddit user wrote, “Yeah, I’m refunding mine. I have over 3000+ hours in Destiny. It’s my favorite game by far, but this…. This broke me…My heart goes out to every single person who lost their job.” (sic.)
What is even more surprising is that it was recently revealed that Destiny 2 player sentiment had reached an all-time low in recent months. The concern was repeatedly raised by employees in previous months leading up to the layoffs. The employees had been begging for necessary changes to win players back.