semiconscious
Member
how well i remember the day that they killed the book of the month club at the construction firm i was working for. rough times...
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Bungie Devs Say Atmosphere Is ‘Soul-Crushing’ Amid Layoffs, Cuts, and Fear of Total Sony Takeover - IGN
- Thread starter adamsapple
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Barakov
Member
Sounds like they cut out the right parts.....Looks to me like they got rid of some absolute bums and are focusing in on people who want to make fun games
Shocking. If you want to be indispensable to a company then maybe your time should be spent harnessing game development skills, not creating little gay clubs
Harsh fact is that Bungie were always a mid-range developer that were propped up by the backing and money of a console developer. Halo was successful due to this backing in spite of many egregious game design flaws. Destiny series has been insulting to its player base, stealing content that was paid for by players and designed around a never ending grind that has random drop elements that are very exploitative of gamers with addictive personalities. They have very quickly burnt lots of good will they hold.
They are the perfect example of why companies are usually closed down rather than being left to run themselves into the ground. Sony made a mistake buying them, the expertise they hold is not worth anything close to 3.6 billion USD. As they say themselves lots of talent left for greener pastures. The only way out for Sony is taking full control a massive restructure and jobs reduction and even complete closure long term as they are quickly becoming a significant money sink. 100 layoffs was not even close to enough and you can bet of this post 100% that more are coming.
They are the perfect example of why companies are usually closed down rather than being left to run themselves into the ground. Sony made a mistake buying them, the expertise they hold is not worth anything close to 3.6 billion USD. As they say themselves lots of talent left for greener pastures. The only way out for Sony is taking full control a massive restructure and jobs reduction and even complete closure long term as they are quickly becoming a significant money sink. 100 layoffs was not even close to enough and you can bet of this post 100% that more are coming.
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Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
100 percent.
Balducci30
Member
I mean after this long of a break? And the struggles they’ve had? I feel like Microsoft coulda made it happen… but maybe not
ChuckeRearmed
Member
Exactly because for QA you don't really need high level skills.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Looks like all these purchases are collapsing.
GG America and the gaming industry.
GG America and the gaming industry.
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The Pleasure
Member
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Halo Reach was better
midnightAI
Member
Sorry, stepped over the mark, it may well be a lot to ask, but there is hope.
So Sony that has no clue about making live service games want to take over studio that is basically all about live service?
That will end up with great result...
Also that Ryan's quote about Bungie giving Sony more way more than 69 billion dollar purchase of Activision Blizzard really aged like milk
That will end up with great result...
Also that Ryan's quote about Bungie giving Sony more way more than 69 billion dollar purchase of Activision Blizzard really aged like milk
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Baki
Member
Bungie is a company that got used to a low interest rate environment and the employees they added post acquisition likely only know that life is like during the good times (tm).
They are. Company increased in size by 50% in 18 months.
I need to know
Depends , most QA isn’t.
Clintizzle
Lord of Edge.
Honestly, I can relate to Bungie staff at the moment. My company pays for all my internet, mobile and electricity and have told me they're just waiting for the shipment to arrive in NZ for my company car the 2023 Polestar 2.
I had a meeting this morning and was told that the Polestars are now going to the Sales team instead and I will be getting a Telsa Model 3 Long Range instead. I'm fucking LIVID. Time to brush up my CV...
I had a meeting this morning and was told that the Polestars are now going to the Sales team instead and I will be getting a Telsa Model 3 Long Range instead. I'm fucking LIVID. Time to brush up my CV...
Thirty7ven
Banned
Am I shocked people are rushing to believe an article that is essentially about the people who were laid off and their departments? Oh no they lost their gourmet lunches!
Sony studios are constantly under the threat of fud articles by hack journalists. Look at the shit that is highlighted in the article.
BUNGIE will go from strength to strength and then people will pretend these shitty articles didn’t exist. Remember when Amy left Naughty Dog? It was over for Naughty Dog. Then Bruce left oh no it’s over for Naughty Dog again. CRUNCH lol remember the crunch doom and gloom?
And social media/community managers and whatever are not devs. There has been a lie told in this industry that game testers and community managers are devs, they are not.
Sony studios are constantly under the threat of fud articles by hack journalists. Look at the shit that is highlighted in the article.
BUNGIE will go from strength to strength and then people will pretend these shitty articles didn’t exist. Remember when Amy left Naughty Dog? It was over for Naughty Dog. Then Bruce left oh no it’s over for Naughty Dog again. CRUNCH lol remember the crunch doom and gloom?
And social media/community managers and whatever are not devs. There has been a lie told in this industry that game testers and community managers are devs, they are not.
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StueyDuck
Member
there truly are some... special comments going on in this thread, even quoting a coltyeastman tweet, i'm guessing the crayons ran out or something in the special area.
On topic it sounds like Bungie fell for the wokeness epidemic and as it's been said many times before, go woke, go broke.
I largely bounced off of D2 after it turned into a fortnite model instead of big yearly expansions and from what little i know from my old group who still play religiously, Bungie really have fumbled and fucked up big time lately. So honestly none of this news is shocking to me.
(also laughing at the people playing console wars in this thread when clearly bungie leadership is fucking up, Sony taking over seems like a good thing with what little info we have to go on)
On topic it sounds like Bungie fell for the wokeness epidemic and as it's been said many times before, go woke, go broke.
I largely bounced off of D2 after it turned into a fortnite model instead of big yearly expansions and from what little i know from my old group who still play religiously, Bungie really have fumbled and fucked up big time lately. So honestly none of this news is shocking to me.
(also laughing at the people playing console wars in this thread when clearly bungie leadership is fucking up, Sony taking over seems like a good thing with what little info we have to go on)
Didn't know that Michael Salvatori and Lorraine McLees who was at Bungie for more than 2 decades were community managers.
But if you think that 10% of Bungie is community managers and social media guys then okay...I guess
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Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
My god that's one resilient banana you have shuved up your ass
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DJ12
Member
Fear of being held accountable probably, bungie sounds like a shit show and needs Sony to fix them.
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OGM_Madness
Member
First-party Sony games have a formula that works pretty well and I can see a future where Bungie is making Single-Player First Person Shooters for Sony (Resistance? Killzone? Hopefully a new IP).
Despite their new love for GaaS, I don’t think Sony will skip the opportunity to have a Halo-level launch title for their next console: a neat 20-30 hour campaign full of spectacle and a online arena shooter with basic rankings and leaderboards.
Despite their new love for GaaS, I don’t think Sony will skip the opportunity to have a Halo-level launch title for their next console: a neat 20-30 hour campaign full of spectacle and a online arena shooter with basic rankings and leaderboards.
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Thirty7ven
Banned
Oh man two devs oh boy oh boy. It was 8% btw.
Did you know that in the music and movie industry new people are always coming and leaving? I understand that game development is different but to act like devs have to stay at a company all their lives or it’s bad news is… dumb.
Bungie mostly laid off people from accessibility, QA, and community management.
If Marathon comes out and is a bad game then it’s a problem. Lay offs were industry wide this year.
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Mownoc
Member
The acquisition contract allowed the Bungie board of directors to remain in control if they kept being financially successful. If they fail to make targets then a clause in the contract gives Sony complete control. "If Bungie’s sci-fi MMO keeps failing revenue targets, Sony could dissolve its existing board of directors and take full control of the roughly 1,100 person studio."
They should let Sony take over and fix their mess but they will fiercely fight it to stay in control and are making cutbacks to try and prevent the complete takeover clause from being activated.
Sony own Bungie but due to the nature of the deal they still have an element of independence. Just let Sony take over and fix your mess.
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Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Bit odd to bring that up, when almost everyone who made Halo left Bungie. Most importantly everyone from their writing and audio team (something they are known for) who worked on Halo have left.
Even most OG Destiny 1 devs have left to make a new studio called ProbablyMonsters.
Over the years its way more than just those two.
You don't even know who Michael Salvatori is and talking about Bungie's strengths. Are you the kind of people who think people like Marty O'Donell were expendables?
Hint: Why do you think Destiny 1 soundtrack was so much better than Destiny 2?
None of the people who made this work on Bungie any more by the way
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Hudo
Member
Yes. It's also a really, really weird move to take a relatively obscure IP (I mean, it was essentially a Mac exclusive IP for the longest time, so they couldn't have chosen it for popularity's sake), which has its strength in its story and single-player and make it a multiplayer-only game. Granted, the old Marathon games also had a fairly active map-making and multiplayer community but it was still niche in comparison.
Reaseru
Member
I'm beginning to think that nowadays some individuals who want to work in video game development think they're going to be in some kind of summer camp, where they're going to do everything but work hard making games.
People are paid to work, not to pass time creating/hanging around social media promoting "clubs", whatever it may be.
People are paid to work, not to pass time creating/hanging around social media promoting "clubs", whatever it may be.
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Ar¢tos
Member
Releasing Marathon in 2024 or, most likely, 2025 as a GaaS extraction shooter seems more risky than making it a single player game, the GAAS bubble is about to burst at any moment.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
And yet, the "new" Bungie was able to make a game that retained almost all the DNA of the original Bungie Halo series, i.e. Destiny.
Frankly, it's irrelevant that the old Halo devs left. The O.G. team cultivated the studio's technologies, workflows, and overall development culture. That's something that remains with the company even after people leave... and the proof is in the pudding given that Destiny is Halo^2.
And? Those who remained made and continued to develop Destiny 2.
You seem to think you're making good points but you're not.
hyperbertha
Member
Bungie needs to be dissolved. They did more damage to gaming than most. Absorb the employees into other studios.
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
GHG
Member
You're right.
If halo never came about then we wouldn't be in the mess that we're in today.
I'm tired of cleaning up after these pesky rats.
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hyperbertha
Member
vaibhavpisal
Member
They don't want to make 3rd person action adventure games.
FUBARx89
Member
I play alot of Destiny 2 still, cause it's got fun gameplay, but you can tell in the past year they just don't give a fuck and half arse it, milking the morons who buy cosmetics dry.
I fully expect Sony to gut out management before the next expansion and take complete control, if not then, another, bigger round of layoffs prior to the dlc then the gut out not long after.
Got no one to blame but themselves and should be happy their incompetent management will get the boot.
I fully expect Sony to gut out management before the next expansion and take complete control, if not then, another, bigger round of layoffs prior to the dlc then the gut out not long after.
Got no one to blame but themselves and should be happy their incompetent management will get the boot.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
all the color coded gear, dailies, their UI....
definitely, Destiny set a trend in the AAA space.
definitely, Destiny set a trend in the AAA space.
diffusionx
Gold Member
it was really smart for Sony to put that clause in the contract about being able to take over management if Bungie fumbles, but I bet they didn't think it could potentially trigger so soon.
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FalsettoVibe
Member
Its still honestly too early to tell.
Fbh
Member
I don't keep up with Destiny but it seems we went from "Bungie has a lot of say over GAAS projects at other Sony studios" to "Bungie is in trouble" really fast.
It's sort of explained in the OP.
When Sony bought Bungie the original arrangement was that Bungie would be an independent subsidiary of Sony. Bungie isn't considered a part of Playstation Studios, they are basically an independent branch of Sony (like, say, Sony Pictures) with full creative control and the ability to continue existing as a multiplatform dev
Apparently that independence was tied to them meeting certain financial goals. According to the report, if they fail those goals by a wide enough margin it would allow Sony to completely take over management. I imagine that would allow them to fold Bungie into Playstation Studios and treat them like any other of their first party devs instead of this special case.
It's sort of explained in the OP.
When Sony bought Bungie the original arrangement was that Bungie would be an independent subsidiary of Sony. Bungie isn't considered a part of Playstation Studios, they are basically an independent branch of Sony (like, say, Sony Pictures) with full creative control and the ability to continue existing as a multiplatform dev
Apparently that independence was tied to them meeting certain financial goals. According to the report, if they fail those goals by a wide enough margin it would allow Sony to completely take over management. I imagine that would allow them to fold Bungie into Playstation Studios and treat them like any other of their first party devs instead of this special case.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
solidus12
Member
So they need to be independent or be with Xbox…
GymWolf
Gold Member
Didn't they already showed a teaser for a new game called decathlon or some shit?
Also, pretty sure sony bought them for their experience with gaas and monetization of skins and stuff.
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Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
You mean many of them went to work for Firewalk Studios... a studio that *checks notes* Sony also owns... and bought from ProbablyMonsters.
People come and go in this industry. It doesn't mean that the DNA and talent is gone.
Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin are gone from Naughty Dog, but Naughty Dog is far more successful in the years since their departure. Which isn't necessarily a slight against them.
Hawkeye2890
Member
I can just imagine the heads of Sony sitting around the boardroom reading about how losing the knitting classes is "soul crushing." "These lazy f#*&ing Gaijen!" I hope Sony does take them over. Maybe we will get better DLC's, rather than going through the same content, only backwards and calling it new content!
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