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[Spyxos]

A job listing for the position of Payroll Manager at the studio has revealed that the studio now has over 1400 employees. Bungie was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in January, 2022, after which it appears to have expanded considerably, become a leading PlayStation first party studio.

The listing states that the new recruit will will lead a comprehensive payroll function overseeing a diverse workforce of 1,400 employees across the U.S., Netherlands, Japan, and Canada. Prior to the being acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the studio had a workforce of around 900 employees.

The studio has since expanded considerably, as it is currently involved with multiple projects, including Destiny 2 expansions, Marathon, and a brand new IP. Regarding the latter, it was reported via an earlier job listing for the position of a Lead VFX Artist that the project is a departure from the studio’s prior games, though it follows the GaaS model. The listing stated that, not only is the game a brand new IP, but it belongs to a new genre that “combines amazing action feel with lighthearted and whimsical characters”. The game is also said to feature “joyful” PvP combat.

Bungie Emerges As A Leading PlayStation First Party Studio w/ Over 1400 Employees Post-Acquisition

Bungie has emerged as as a leading PlayStation first party studio, with more than 1400 employees working at the studio post-acquisition.

gameinfinitus.com

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I thought they laid off like 10% of the employees. So they had nearly 1600?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I thought they laid off like 10% of the employees. So they had nearly 1600?

That's why it is so interesting to hear the rumors of their demise.

They like a lot of companies ramped up big and quickly and they obviously overindulged, even with the support of Sony.

Their priority was no longer on Destiny, but rather on Marathon and other projects which resulted in a significant decrease in the quality of their latest DLC. That combined with Marathon not coming along as well as they hoped, which doesn't mean the project is in danger or at risk, simply means that they had to re-evaluate their size.

Naughty Dog was in a somewhat similar position, but we've still yet to hear of mass layoffs of FTEs there even with the cancellation of TLOU Online.

It is between Bungie and Naughty Dog as to who is the most important studio under Sony and it isn't close. I know a lot of people aren't happy to hear that, but it's the objective truth.

I actually wonder what the future of Polyphony Digital will be once they reach PC. I wonder if they'd recruit a lot of staff from Turn 10 once they inevitably have layoffs or close down. I could see Sony opening Polyphony Digital West and collectively that would be a really important studio for revenue as well, but Marathon is a big big deal for Sony/Bungie, as well as any other games they're working on.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

That's why it is so interesting to hear the rumors of their demise.

They like a lot of companies ramped up big and quickly and they obviously overindulged, even with the support of Sony.

Their priority was no longer on Destiny, but rather on Marathon and other projects which resulted in a significant decrease in the quality of their latest DLC. That combined with Marathon not coming along as well as they hoped, which doesn't mean the project is in danger or at risk, simply means that they had to re-evaluate their size.

Naughty Dog was in a somewhat similar position, but we've still yet to hear of mass layoffs of FTEs there even with the cancellation of TLOU Online.

It is between Bungie and Naughty Dog as to who is the most important studio under Sony and it isn't close. I know a lot of people aren't happy to hear that, but it's the objective truth.

I actually wonder what the future of Polyphony Digital will be once they reach PC. I wonder if they'd recruit a lot of staff from Turn 10 once they inevitably have layoffs or close down. I could see Sony opening Polyphony Digital West and collectively that would be a really important studio for revenue as well, but Marathon is a big big deal for Sony/Bungie, as well as any other games they're working on.

I think PD operates pretty good as they are, tbh.

Just make GT a GaaS with new iterations once per gen or something.

 

[Puscifer]

That's why it is so interesting to hear the rumors of their demise.

They like a lot of companies ramped up big and quickly and they obviously overindulged, even with the support of Sony.

Their priority was no longer on Destiny, but rather on Marathon and other projects which resulted in a significant decrease in the quality of their latest DLC. That combined with Marathon not coming along as well as they hoped, which doesn't mean the project is in danger or at risk, simply means that they had to re-evaluate their size.

Naughty Dog was in a somewhat similar position, but we've still yet to hear of mass layoffs of FTEs there even with the cancellation of TLOU Online.

It is between Bungie and Naughty Dog as to who is the most important studio under Sony and it isn't close. I know a lot of people aren't happy to hear that, but it's the objective truth.

I actually wonder what the future of Polyphony Digital will be once they reach PC. I wonder if they'd recruit a lot of staff from Turn 10 once they inevitably have layoffs or close down. I could see Sony opening Polyphony Digital West and collectively that would be a really important studio for revenue as well, but Marathon is a big big deal for Sony/Bungie, as well as any other games they're working on.

IMO Naughty Dog would be nuts to fire those people. I'd immediately get them into repurposing what's there for TLOU 3 and then finish the current project they've been supposedly working on.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think PD operates pretty good as they are, tbh.

Just make GT a GaaS with new iterations once per gen or something.

Absolutely they do, but their problem is how long it takes them to create content.

Even look at the fact that GT7 isn't on PC yet despite it hitting massive longevity due to the movie.

There are a lot of things Polyphony Digital can do to take Gran Turismo to new levels, but they need a lot more resources in order to do it. Depending on the success of the Codemasters games, they may ultimately want to look at some DLC for F1 and WRC as well as bringing back Tourist Trophy.

If they find an opportunity to absorb a lot of staff from Turn 10, they'd be pretty stupid not to.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

IMO Naughty Dog would be nuts to get fire those people. I'd immediately get them into repurposing what's there for TLOU 3 and then finish the current project they've been supposedly working on.

I can only imagine much of that work will be repurposed. I'd be surprised if TLOU3 doesn't have an online mode attached to it, even if it isn't a GaaS game.

I don't totally buy the reasoning behind TLOU Online being canceled. I hope in 5-10 years we find out the real reason here.

 

[bitbydeath]

Absolutely they do, but their problem is how long it takes them to create content.

Even look at the fact that GT7 isn't on PC yet despite it hitting massive longevity due to the movie.

There are a lot of things Polyphony Digital can do to take Gran Turismo to new levels, but they need a lot more resources in order to do it. Depending on the success of the Codemasters games, they may ultimately want to look at some DLC for F1 and WRC as well as bringing back Tourist Trophy.

If they find an opportunity to absorb a lot of staff from Turn 10, they'd be pretty stupid not to.

GT7 isn’t on PS+ yet either which usually occurs 1+ years before the PC version.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Bungie has 2 GAAS games in full development as well as working on continuous updates for Destiny. 1400 makes sense

 

[Jayjayhd34]

I can only imagine much of that work will be repurposed. I'd be surprised if TLOU3 doesn't have an online mode attached to it, even if it isn't a GaaS game.

I don't totally buy the reasoning behind TLOU Online being canceled. I hope in 5-10 years we find out the real reason here.

I think makes perfect sense. If look you rockstar I think that's kind of ambition they had tlou3 online and they simply don't the have the resources to make something on caliber of tlou2 and support such a big project. I mean would you want them milking online for 3 generations like rockstar or would you want new single player game this generation.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

GT7 isn’t on PS+ yet either which usually occurs 1+ years before the PC version.

I would not expect GT7 on PS+ anytime soon.

I think there will be a GT7 PSVR2 bundle. I actually think big 1st party games arriving on PS+ is going to become more and more rare/distant from their launch. I also don't think that's a fast rule either.

That being said, there is a huge market available to GT7 on PC, though the performance of Forza probably didn't engender much confidence.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think makes perfect sense. If look you rockstar I think that's kind of ambition they had tlou3 online and they simply don't the have the resources to make something on caliber of tlou2 and support such a big project. I mean would you want them milking online for 3 generations like rockstar or would you want new single player game this generation.

The TV was the biggest tv show of the year. There is a huge market for an online game here based on it. If they were confident in the success of the game, it wouldn't matter how much they needed in resources. Worst case scenario they would have farmed the game out to Sony Bend or something.

I can't imagine that the game wasn't fun, because we all know the core gameplay involved here. If it was only a matter of monetization, I can't imagine them not releasing it and selling it for 20 dollars or something to get some return on it.

So there has to be more involved here. Whether it be difficulties with timing the release up with the show, a desire to focus more on TLOU3 and other projects, or whatnot.

But I assure you we aren't getting the full story here.

 

[bitbydeath]

I would not expect GT7 on PS+ anytime soon.

I think there will be a GT7 PSVR2 bundle. I actually think big 1st party games arriving on PS+ is going to become more and more rare/distant from their launch. I also don't think that's a fast rule either.

That being said, there is a huge market available to GT7 on PC, though the performance of Forza probably didn't engender much confidence.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing a PC version anytime soon. But it is odd we haven’t seen a PS+ launch yet. IMO.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I don’t think we’ll be seeing a PC version anytime soon. But it is odd we haven’t seen a PS+ launch yet. IMO.

The game is still one of the best selling games on PS5 and PS4... why would they give it away for free when it is still selling so well?

If anything putting it on PS+ is detrimental to sales on PC. I think something along those lines were mentioned in the insomniac leaks.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I'm excited to see what they release next. Their games always feel great to play.

*I know they are working on Marathon

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Guilty_AI

Lol

 

[nial]

I wonder if they'd recruit a lot of staff from Turn 10 once they inevitably have layoffs or close down. I could see Sony opening Polyphony Digital West and collectively that would be a really important studio

Polyphony Digital does have offices in the West, but they don't interfere in game development. I wonder what would this studio do, though? Support, PC work?

 

[Jayjayhd34]

I don’t think we’ll be seeing a PC version anytime soon. But it is odd we haven’t seen a PS+ launch yet. IMO.

There's talk on a discord server I can't name it that insomniac leak has allowed them to port any ps5 game to pc.

 

[nial]

Just make GT a GaaS with new iterations once per gen or something.

No.
Looking forward to Gran Turismo 8 in 2025/2026!

 

[Guilty_AI]

Guilty_AI

Lol

?

Their main game is still falling of the charts you know

 

[StreetsofBeige]

They probably just fired 100 people last year (the 8% cut) and rehired more people at half the salary.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

?

Their main game is still falling of the charts you know

Looks like you know something Bungie doesn't.

(What a surprise)

 

[gothmog]

They probably just fired 100 people last year (the 8% cut) and rehired more people at half the salary.

Based on my experiences it's usually the opposite. You dump the dead weight and strive to hire high performing talent.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Based on my experiences it's usually the opposite. You dump the dead weight and strive to hire high performing talent.

You worked on good places then.

 

[Ogbert]

Bungie has 2 GAAS games in full development as well as working on continuous updates for Destiny. 1400 makes sense

‘Continuous updates’ being the same recycled seasonal
content that’s been used for the last five years.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Looks like you know something Bungie doesn't.

(What a surprise)

I do certainly know how to not abuse customer goodwill.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I still think Sony bought Bungie so they could hypothetically get hit on the same level as Fortnite

 

[bitbydeath]

There's talk on a discord server I can't name it that insomniac leak has allowed them to port any ps5 game to pc.

I thought they already could?

 

[Aaron Olive]

Absolutely they do, but their problem is how long it takes them to create content.

Even look at the fact that GT7 isn't on PC yet despite it hitting massive longevity due to the movie.

There are a lot of things Polyphony Digital can do to take Gran Turismo to new levels, but they need a lot more resources in order to do it. Depending on the success of the Codemasters games, they may ultimately want to look at some DLC for F1 and WRC as well as bringing back Tourist Trophy.

If they find an opportunity to absorb a lot of staff from Turn 10, they'd be pretty stupid not to.

With Forza turning out the way it did being “built from the ground up” PD would be stupid to pull anything from Turn 10.

2. If it was hypothetically to happen any none Japanese speaking employees would not fit in at P.D. and would create such a workflow headache.

 

[DeepSpace5D]

‘Continuous updates’ being the same recycled seasonal
content that’s been used for the last five years.

Only if you ignore the new content that gets released. The new dungeon this season for example.

 

[SlimySnake]

Now that CoD isnt going exclusive and MS is thinking of going third party, Sony should sell bungie and cut their losses. It's a useless fucking studio for first party purposes and is too big for sony to manage and pay out all these GaaS frauds. 1,400 employees and all they have done over the last 7 years is Destiny DLC? Just awful.

Get Insomniac, ND, SSM and GG some of those 1,400 employees. These developers are doing wonders with 300-400 devs. They will do a lot better than release DLC for 7 years.

 

[Raonak]

I was under the impression that bungie was not under the playstation studios umbrella or something.

 

[bitbydeath]

The game is still one of the best selling games on PS5 and PS4... why would they give it away for free when it is still selling so well?

If anything putting it on PS+ is detrimental to sales on PC. I think something along those lines were mentioned in the insomniac leaks.

Putting it on PC would also be detrimental to sales on PS5, maybe this is why they’re holding back on both.

 

[Jesb]

It’s mind blowing this many people and what their output was for Sony so far.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Putting it on PC would also be detrimental to sales on PS5, maybe this is why they’re holding back on both.

I don't see a significant correlation between PS5 sales and the presence of a game on PC. The reality is the PS5 is selling itself and very few people are saying, oh I'm a console gamer, but if these first party games are on PC, especially years later, I'll pass on getting a PS5. PS5 is selling faster than PS4 despite this new avenue of revenue. It takes time to develop a game, especially one like this and port it to PC, but they have confirmed they are considering it.

It’s mind blowing this many people and what their output was for Sony so far.

That's because your mind doesn't consider size, scope, and timing of projects.

 

[proandrad]

1400 employees and not 1 good game.

 

[AJUMP23]

What are they working on?

 

[kiphalfton]

It's amazing how Halo Bungie and Destiny Bungie seem like two totally different devs. Yeah people came and went, and the core team changed since then, but after Halo Reach I couldn't care less what they worked on as I don't care about multiplayer games.

Honestly wish they would make a solid single player first person shooter game, but that's probably not gonna happen.

Also part of me wonders if they advocated against the Last of Us Factions multiplayer, in an attempt to avoid cannabalizing their own game. Why have people play LoU multiplayer, when they can be playing Destiny.

 

[Three]

?

Their main game is still falling of the charts you know

And yet it's still above The Finals on xbox most played, a recently released and praised f2p game.

 

[Iced Arcade]

That's a lot of GaaS

 

[Jesb]

I don't see a significant correlation between PS5 sales and the presence of a game on PC. The reality is the PS5 is selling itself and very few people are saying, oh I'm a console gamer, but if these first party games are on PC, especially years later, I'll pass on getting a PS5. PS5 is selling faster than PS4 despite this new avenue of revenue. It takes time to develop a game, especially one like this and port it to PC, but they have confirmed they are considering it.



That's because your mind doesn't consider size, scope, and timing of projects.

My mind sees that they have 1400 employees and didn’t make one good game.

 

[Guilty_AI]

And yet it's still above The Finals on xbox most played, a recently released and praised f2p game.

and both are below Forza Horizon 5, a 2 yo racing game.

 

[Beechos]

Jeebus no wonder sony trying to trim some fat with them.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

That's too bad. Bungie used to be a good developer.

 

[Three]

and both are below Forza Horizon 5, a 2 yo racing game.

Ok? And that's below AC:Valhalla, a 4 yo third person game. what's your point? My point is that it's not falling off the charts. It's retaining its position better than other acclaimed much newer FPS games like The Finals, it retains it better than Halo Infinite.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Ok? And that's below AC:Valhalla, a 4 yo third person game. what's your point? My point is that it's not falling off the charts. It's retaining its position better than other acclaimed much newer FPS games like The Finals, it retains it better than Halo Infinite.

My point is The Finals ain't exactly a great example of success to compare it to (or Halo Infinite for that matter).

The fact you're putting a game like this, which was once one the biggest dogs around, against flops like Halo Infinite and mildly successful titles just demonstrates how low it has fallen.

 

[Three]

My point is The Finals ain't exactly a great example of success to compare it to (or Halo Infinite for that matter).

The fact you're putting a game like this, which was once one the biggest dogs around, against flops like Halo Infinite and mildly successful titles just demonstrates how low it has fallen.

Why isn't it an example of success? it shows its staying power when recently released games in the genre like The Finals fall behind it already. Halo was also one of the biggest dogs around and a more recent game too, it failed worse. So what exactly are you trying to compare it to?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

My mind sees that they have 1400 employees and didn’t make one good game.

How many bad games have they made?

Your mind needs work.