A large portion of Bungie’s workforce is being laid off shortly after the end of service for Destiny 2 was announced.
It’s usually not a good sign when a major gaming company suddenly “thanks” its employees for their service. These days, there’s almost always bad news behind it—and that’s certainly the case with the latest news from Sony: Following the end of service forDestiny 2, numerous Bungie employees are now losing their jobs. Jobs are also being cut from the team behind the new shooterMarathon.
The next round of mass layoffs
CEO Hermen Hulst does not specify exactly how many jobs are affected. He says it involves a “significant number,” including the majority of Destiny developers and some at Marathon.
Destiny 2 recently announced its final service update. Apparently, there are no plans for a Destiny 3 or any other sequel. We just discussed this at length on GameStar Talk:
What’s happening with Marathon now?With Season 2, the multiplayer shooter hasundergone aminor reboot. However, player numbers according toSteamDB, however, look rather meager; over the past 24 hours, a maximum of 9,500 people were online simultaneously (on Steam). For Destiny 2, the figure was just under 90,000.
In hisstatement, Hulst does not explicitly announce the end of Marathon, but the signs are very clear. Here’s how he puts it:
Marathon remains an important part of our portfolio, and we will continue to support the team as they build on the solid foundation laid by Seasons 1 and 2 and work on developing future projects. While it’s still too early to discuss this, we’re very encouraged by the creativity and opportunities that lie ahead.
A somewhat vague PR statement, the kind corporations like to use when the future looks uncertain. As things stand, we don’t expect Marathon to get many more seasons.
The list of studios in the gaming industry that have closed or been drastically downsized is getting longer and longer, as you can see in the box above.
According to the statement, Sony intends to try to help the laid-off employees through this “transition.” To that end, the company is exploring options such as relocating them internally within Sony Interactive and its affiliated studios. The layoffs were deemed necessary after lengthy discussions.
