Bungie, the Destiny 2 developer under PlayStation, commits to a round of layoffs this year. Now former Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert tweeted about the anxiety that comes with joining company meetings when the games industry is suffering through mass layoffs. "Well... my heart is breaking for all affected," Ruppert told followers under her Twitter thread, adding, "I am now looking for opportunities."
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier shared that Bungie's CEO, Pete Parsons, emailed staff about a team meeting, and quoted that it would be about "some news today coming out of Bungie." Another community manager, franchise editor, and even social media lead Griffin Bennett, shared that they've been laid off by Bungie. Jason Larsen was the senior support manager but was laid off after working at Bungie for 10 years. Although it isn't yet clear how many people were laid off by Bungie, it looks like social and support teams were targeted. However as more staff come forth, it seems like other departments where hit by layoffs too. A former icon artist at Bungie said that they were affected and are looking for a new job.
Layoffs have riddled the games industry this year and now hits the Destiny 2 as we near the The Final Shape expansion, even after Sony acquired the developer for $3.7 billion over a year ago. PlayStation studio Naughty Dog laid off 25 developers just earlier this month too, which excluded full-time staff, Kotaku reported.
We'll update this post as we learn more.
