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[ChorizoPicozo]

Yep. And don't forget, once that retention pay period is over....some people are going to leave.

Happens every time.

 

[Guntherlibby]

Bungie under the terms of their agreement with Sony are still able to self-publish and engage with players on platforms that are not PlayStation. In that case, all those roles you just listed still remain very much needed.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Literally none of those roles are related to anything you listed.

Do you think Sony's community managers or HR resources will be allocated to help resolve issues that arise on platforms other than PlayStation?

 

[Xtib81]

Hardly surprising. It happens all the time. On a side note, with that many employees, one has to wonder WTF they are doing with their time.

 

[GHG]

Do you think Sony's community managers or HR resources will be allocated to help resolve issues that arise on platforms other than PlayStation?

You're right. Last time I experienced a problem with a game I reported it to HR.

 

[Godot25]

I would also argue it might show that Bungie shouldn't have had a say in a Naughty Dog game in the first place. Just like Naughty Dog should have a say in anything Bungie do.

They were specifically bought by Sony because of their live service expertise, so without Bungie having a say about other PS Studios live service games their purchase literally have no sense.

But I agree, because as an lapsed Destiny player who played game for 7 years it sometimes look thst even Bungie doesn't know what are they doing.

 

[Killer8]

Yeah, get a job at Xbox and then get laid off from there too. Did he just forget Microsoft also axed 10,000 employees in January and then another 1000 in July? It's an industry wide problem.

Klobrille will never let an opportunity to bat for Xbox pass him by though. Quite possibly the most pathetic creature online given how much effort he puts in for free.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Companies shouldnt be allowed to buy other companies for $3.2 billion only to lay them off months later.

If you cant afford to pay these employees, you clearly dont have enough cash to support them. We should make laws to limit layoffs at acquired companies for at least 5-10 years. I cant go out and sign a contract for a 12 months of lawn services then cancel it because i couldnt afford to pay people to mow my lawn anymore. if i dont pay my outstanding bill, it gets sent to collections. Maybe sony, ms, tencent and embracer consolidating the industry should be held to the same standards.

This is insufferably naive.

If you're buying a company then by definition there will be redundant work functions in the company being acquired that is already present within the parent company. So there is a necessity to lay off staff.

E.g. MS buying Bethesda only to make all their games exclusive to Xbox means that all their internal Playstation and Nintendo testing and QA functions, payroll and IT functions, dev services and tools folks become redundant now that the games are no longer multiplatform and those other support functions are supplied within Xbox, and so those roles no longer have work to do. So by your logic, you'd regulate to keep those people on salary doing fuck all. It's a business, not a charity.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

This is insufferably naive.

If you're buying a company then by definition there will be redundant work functions in the company being acquired that is already present within the parent company. So there is a necessity to lay off staff.

E.g. MS buying Bethesda only to make all their games exclusive to Xbox means that all their internal Playstation and Nintendo testing and QA functions, payroll and IT functions, dev services and tools folks become redundant now that the games are no longer multiplatform and those other support functions are supplied within Xbox, and so those roles no longer have work to do. So by your logic, you'd regulate to keep those people on salary doing fuck all. It's a business, not a charity.

In Bungie's case however, it's already been confirmed that all their future titles will be multiplatform.

 

[TheBomb]

That would be a recipe for stagnation.

Activision is next.

Yeah, get a job at Xbox and then get laid off from there too. Did he just forget Microsoft also axed 10,000 employees in January and then another 1000 in July? It's an industry wide problem.

Klobrille will never let an opportunity to bat for Xbox pass him by though. Quite possibly the most pathetic creature online given how much effort he puts in for free.

Yeah, it's like we are a nice place to work. It's all full of crap.

 

[LordBlodgett]

I said it in the last few layoff threads, and I'll say it again. This is to be expected. Every single gaming company massively increased headcount during Covid as people piled into gaming. That Covid bump is over and there has been a slight decline for almost every gaming company and now they need to reduce a little to get back to a more sustainable headcount. Basic economics.....

Edit: I also wonder if they aren't letting some redundant positions go now that whatever agreement they had when they bought Bungie is over. That sorta makes sense.

 

[TheGodfather07]

I still don't understand why sony acquired bungie? They're shit. 3b on them? What a waste.

 

[Shubh_C63]

I am not a Destiny guy, but I thought it was a massively popular game. Is that not the case?

They are. Probably making another AAA game (Marathon with Bungie) for last few years without putting it into market may have impacted their margins OR the work is almost complete and it was time to let go the temp staff (majorly).

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Bungie:

NeoGAF:

Jason Shreier and Paul Tassi got y'all on a leash, my God.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sad to see, and hopefully all the impacted folks will quickly land on their feet.

From what I gather it looks like a big part of the social media & community management team has been canned. Also HR, Legal and some producer roles.

As per the second tweet, getting laid off doesn't mean someone did something wrong. It's just a business thing. And when companies merge there's always going to be some people chopped. And more likely then not the compan getting acquired will usually get more chopped as the acquirer is the one in power who will likely keep more of their own people.

I got laid off in the 2000s when my old company merged divisions. A bunch of us in different depts got let go because one sales person can handle multiple product lines and finance people just have to analyze more rows of data. You dont need double the manpower in a lot of cases.

 

[Saber]

Why the fuck do these companies buy other companies to simply fire people later?
Hopefully this has nothing to do with Naughty Soycuckdog.

 

[Barlow]

.

 

[SlimySnake]

This is insufferably naive.

If you're buying a company then by definition there will be redundant work functions in the company being acquired that is already present within the parent company. So there is a necessity to lay off staff.

E.g. MS buying Bethesda only to make all their games exclusive to Xbox means that all their internal Playstation and Nintendo testing and QA functions, payroll and IT functions, dev services and tools folks become redundant now that the games are no longer multiplatform and those other support functions are supplied within Xbox, and so those roles no longer have work to do. So by your logic, you'd regulate to keep those people on salary doing fuck all. It's a business, not a charity.

except bungie is continuing to make multiplatform games, and firing HR, marketing and other redundant departments dont require mass layoffs. they are unceremoniously let go slowly one after another.

these mass layoffs are a cost cutting measure because the company missed their internal profit targets and have to show shareholders that they are doing something.

 

[GHG]

What a fucking waste.

Not only are they needing to get rid of people but game releases are being delayed?

Insomniac was a fluke. From now on just hand pick and hire the best people from various companies instead of acquiring all the shitty bloat and lazy blue haired whales.

 

[mckmas8808]

Post covid streamlining. No different than other tech companies who cracked down hard from covid fall out. Peloton and Zoom are gigantic before and after scenes.

Sony's gaming division had it's best profits during covid lockdown years. When things are on the up and up, every company has loose pocketbooks. But Its trending down lately dropping below $2 billion. So it's time to cut the fat. The games division is their most important driver of growth and profits for years, so they cant afford to let it slip.

I'm so glad GAF has a market street-smart person like yourself. Never leave us bro!

Sad to see, and hopefully all the impacted folks will quickly land on their feet.

From what I gather it looks like a big part of the social media & community management team has been canned. Also HR, Legal and some producer roles.

So basically redundant roles from the buyout. That makes sense. Those people probably saw this coming though.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Prediction: Bungie will get out of their Sony deal like they did Activision by the end of next year

 

[Dynasty8]

I do hope Final Shape is delayed to June. They delayed Witch Queen by a couple months and that's been the best expansion yet. Plus, FFVII Rebirth is also supposed to release the same day. If those extra months means getting something better than Lightfall, I am 100% down for that.

 

[OLED_Gamer]

Layoff heavy everywhere, not just the gaming world. Sucks for those who have been affected.

 

[X-Wing]

It's gonna be a small number again probably, like the other layoffs at Sony studios.

 

[GHG]

Prediction: Bungie will get out of their Sony deal like they did Activision by the end of next year

Might as well if all Sony want to do is skim off the profits and are required to financially constrain them in order to do so.

 

[mckmas8808]

Did we know about the delays from these titles?

 

[TheBomb]

Why the fuck do these companies buy other companies to simply fire people later?
Hopefully this has nothing to do with Naughty Soycuckdog.

Their ips.

 

[adamsapple]

Did we know about the delays from these titles?

No, I think this is the first time it has been mentioned.

If someone wants to make a separate topic for it, please go ahead.

 

[MoreJRPG]

Klobrille will never let an opportunity to bat for Xbox pass him by though. Quite possibly the most pathetic creature online given how much effort he puts in for free.

Guy thinks he's on the team. People do wild shit for 12 months of Gamepass Ultimate.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's gonna be a small number again probably, like the other layoffs at Sony studios.

There's a reason Jason Shcierer didn't release the number of people laid off too.

 

[TheUsual]

Factions 2 back on track now.

The Druckmann Strikes Back

 

[Unknown?]

That's the crazy part. The economy isn't "F'ed" up right now. Things are just out of balance due to the ending of Covid, inflation being high, and interest rates being high due to those matters. Companies are just shuffling their boards to better reflect the current reality.

But again.....the economy is not bad at the moment.

Where the heck do you live? Europe can't even cope with the freezing weather because they don't have energy. The United States added 1 trillion dollars of debt in 20 days. In a single day the US added 250 billion of debt. We have the largest deficits ever outside of covid(and not far off from that) with larger bank failures this year than the great recession. Do you just watch mainstream market news?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So basically redundant roles from the buyout. That makes sense. Those people probably saw this coming though.

Everyone should see something is coming. Just a matter of when.

Any time two companies merge, there's going to be cuts.

From the companies I work at (not tech), when it comes to axing people, the people who get the cut the fastest are:

- Anyone already on the firing line due to bad performance and bad attitude
- Long time employees (like the 30 year club) who cost a lot and probably old and stodgy
- Redundancies
- Support roles (not revenue generating roles, and not warehouse/shipping roles). In other words, the people often kept are the ones selling and shipping it out. Now for gaming companies, I dont know what kind of employees they will axe the fastest since these companies have tons of programming/art/audio roles, and not teams of account managers and warehouse crew and trucker fleets

 

[DrFigs]

Damn imagine being one of the people Xbox fired from 343 or coalition earlier this year and you see this shit

 

[Ronin_7]

Feel sorry for everyone affected.

Games industry is such shit to work on Jesus.

 

[skit_data]

Prediction: Bungie will get out of their Sony deal like they did Activision by the end of next year

Maybe Bungie simply is the Borderline personality chick of the gaming industry. Really hot and sexy until BAM a few weeks in and you're trying to escape from her.

 

[FoxMcChief]

After critiquing Factions, Bungie said their own game wasn't engaging enough and canceled themselves. Their standards are that high.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

When was that Destiny 2 expansion delay announced? I don't remember that.

EDIT: Oh never mind. Internal delay.

 

[Clear]

Note the positions of the people being laid off.

It never ceases to amuse me how the impression given is that its creative staff getting the axe, and never the many people in the business and support infrastructure. Less specialist roles that are much easier to eliminate, replace, or re-hire for with contractors.

 

[Punished Miku]

I was just cracking jokes but I guess there is a rumored delay so maybe I was accidentally right? I have no idea lol.

 

[Elysium44]

Feel sorry for everyone affected.

Games industry is such shit to work on Jesus.

Life isn't always easy, lots of industries are tougher with worse pay and/or working conditions. Luckily we don't have communism so people do have a choice where and how to work.

 

[X-Wing]

The irony considering that Microsoft alone fired more people than the entire gaming industry combined this year, this wile evading taxes and gearing up to spend 70B on an acquisition.

 

[Alebrije]

The main stuff from Bungie since Sony got them :

1) Supossely helped to cancel Factions 2.
2) Marathon project game.
3) Layoffs.

Hope they are working of something big because at this moment thar looks lame.

 

[mckmas8808]

Feel sorry for everyone affected.

Games industry is such shit to work on Jesus.

Bungie hired a net +450 people in 18 months after Sony bought them. Have you ever asked yourself why the media never covers those stories?

 

[Warnen]

 

[mckmas8808]

Where the heck do you live? Europe can't even cope with the freezing weather because they don't have energy. The United States added 1 trillion dollars of debt in 20 days. In a single day the US added 250 billion of debt. We have the largest deficits ever outside of covid(and not far off from that) with larger bank failures this year than the great recession. Do you just watch mainstream market news?

In America. We don't care about the debt. The debt has been crazy for years, but it doesn't change how people live day-to-day.

I watch mainstream market news all the time. It's how I know for 100% a fact that our economy is not horrible. In some respects, it's doing good. In others, bad. But again, this is in America. I can't speak for other countries.

 

[STARSBarry]

remember when they announced they where rebooting Marathon and then revealed it was a extraction shooter so any interest immediately died?

I suspect this is related.

 

[DavJay]

Not surprised. The size of bungie is far greater than any of Sonys own studio. They have to make cutbacks. I expect the same with Activision Blizzard.

 

[X-Wing]

Where the heck do you live? Europe can't even cope with the freezing weather because they don't have energy. The United States added 1 trillion dollars of debt in 20 days. In a single day the US added 250 billion of debt. We have the largest deficits ever outside of covid(and not far off from that) with larger bank failures this year than the great recession. Do you just watch mainstream market news?