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[Draugoth]

Via TheGamespot

In the DestinyTheGame subreddit, fans are boycotting The Final Shape expansion, expressing their collective frustration and disappointment over Bungie’s recent layoffs and the reported underperformance of Destiny 2.

One post from Reddit user u/Eigenspace, with over two thousand upvotes and nearly four hundred comments states that they “bought a preorder pack expecting that the content would release on a certain day and meet a certain level of quality” and that the reported layoffs and the current climate at Bungie is “reasonable grounds to request a refund.”

Under the same thread, another Reddit user wrote, “Yeah, I’m refunding mine. I have over 3000+ hours in Destiny. It’s my favorite game by far but this…. This broke me…My heart goes out to every single person who lost their job.”

What adds fuel to the fire is the revelation that Destiny 2 player sentiment had reached an all-time low, a concern repeatedly raised by employees in the months leading up to the layoffs, with employees “begging for necessary changes to win players back.”

It has been confirmed that Michael Salvatori, a veteran composer at Bungie who joined the company in 1997, as well as Michael Sichrest, the composer of the fan-favorite “Deep Stone Lullaby” soundtrack, were both laid off. Salvatori has expressed his feelings on the matter, stating, “I’m still sorting through my emotions. Many of my close friends were also let go, and I feel terrible for them.

 

[MR ARCADE FOREVER]

Most likely all wokesetera communists

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

 

[DenchDeckard]

 

[Killjoy-NL]

A mass refund based on 2,000 upvotes and 400 comments on Reddit?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

A mass refund based on 2,000 upvotes and 400 comments on Reddit?

This. OP, everything that you find on the internet that is gaming related is not worth of a thread.

 

[Mythoclast]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

 

[clarky]

A mass refund based on 2,000 upvotes and 400 comments on Reddit?

Yeah these kind of "news" stories are complete bollocks.

Game gets a big delay, of course a few people who pre-ordered (why??) are going to refund.

 

[stickkidsam]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

Maybe Bungie just isn’t worth saving if it means supporting the douchebags causing the problem?

 

[Draugoth]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

Yeah these kind of "news" stories are complete bollocks.

Game gets a big delay, of course a few people who pre-ordered (why??) are going to refund.

Fair enough. I asked the mods to delete this.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

That's stupid. And can cause more layoffs. Firing and hiring people are a natural part of any business, of course I feel sorry for the people who lost their positions, but they can go work elsewhere, the economy is not so great right now and Bungie is just another company in need to restructure during these difficult times. There is no evil here, it's just business.

 

[ProtoByte]

Yeah, starve them of even more money, that'll convince them to keep their costs high.

I'm really sick of the hubbub around this topic of work in the industry, because people don't know what they're talking about, and the games media is just as stupid about it despite having direct contacts at these companies. It's just communist, business illiterate shite that is defined mostly be the extremists over at reee.

The fools over at Kinda Funny are the chief example. They were all "how can this be happening when the industry seems to be doing so well? We need unionization (nevermind that one of these layoffs sprees was exclusively targeted at unionized QA iirc)", and then go onto list all the companies that are doing it not 60 seconds later, only to not realise the disconnect; not everyone in the industry is doing well. They literally listed them off:

Bungie - missed revenue targets by 45% after 18 months of hiring to a 1200+ number of full time employees; Deep Silver - lol, Saints Row; Embracer as a whole - spent a billions they didn't have on studios and games that do not do well critically or commercially; Media Molecule - just got done supporting a decade long disaster called Dreams; Epic - like most injected with financial coof steroids in gaming, overhired and overinvested in EGS and metaverse bs; Naughty Dog - Factions is a development car crash, and they

All this blatantly and abundantly clear on top of 3-6 month's of pay and benefits severance packages, the fact that contractors whose contracts end are not victims of "layoffs", that some of these firings stack up to literally 25 people and rarely greater than 100 (again, for studios with a permanent headcount of over 1000) and that many of those people are not even involved with making the game so much as they are commoonity managers and recrooters who blow smoke up the collective ass of the internet for a living.

Even if the number of "layoffs" this year is double the reported ~6k number, it's not that surprising or serious. Other industries have been hit way worse. You set up the global economy for what these same people pushed for in the lockdowns, this is what you get.

Tldr - business literacy is not the strong suit of almost anyone on fucking reddit or the games media at large.

 

[StueyDuck]

Only an idiot would think protesting job losses by spending less money on the company would fix it .

Gamers can be damn stupid sometimes.

 

[SportsFan581]

I hope they realize that if (a big if because this is probably a tiny group of people in reality) they manage to shift the financials in a negative direction it will just result in more layoffs. I don't follow the logic.

 

[//DEVIL//]

just one nice bad ass trailer before the release and they will comeback like dogs.

these people on the purple side are all just talks.

 

[ProtoByte]

A mass refund based on 2,000 upvotes and 400 comments on Reddit?

It's one of those media astroturfs of a particular narrative they like to push to satiate their "developer" friends in the industry. I shit you not, there are people on social media trying to pressure the Dewrito Pope to talk about this at the game awards. "Please eulogize the studio that made one of the worst major games in years in Saints Row!!"

 

[Fake]

I sure this will not result into more layoffs.

 

[nikos]

If it’s delayed, that’s one thing, but refunding because layoffs is stupid. Anybody who has already preordered the game must be a pretty big Destiny/Bungie fan. To cancel that amidst the company having issues is some dumb ass mentality. You’d think fans of the game would want to support the people who make it instead of pretty much kicking them while they’re down.

 

[Caffeine]

good fuck em they should just release it for free as a end of life update for the current owners of lightfall.

 

[tmlDan]

what is the game post dot com lol

 

[PisswasserYellow]

"It's my favorite game by far but this…. This broke me…"

Jesus fucking cringeworthy Christ. Broken by Bungie employees being laid off lol. I can't believe there are people who care enough about online attention that they'd actually post shit like that.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

If it’s delayed, that’s one thing, but refunding because layoffs is stupid. Anybody who has already preordered the game must be a pretty big Destiny/Bungie fan. To cancel that amidst the company having issues is some dumb ass mentality. You’d think fans of the game would want to support the people who make it instead of pretty much kicking them while they’re down.

This article aside, I'm sure a ton of people who made a bad choice want a refund, if based on nothing else than how shitty Lightfall was.

 

[TommyCronin6969]

Fact it's been delayed should be easy grounds for refunding.

 

[Skifi28]

The thought process behind such a boycott leaves me speechless.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Who would be dumb enough to pre-order an expansion after lightfall??

 

[MiguelItUp]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

Yeah.... I don't know what genius thought this would be a good way to protest the layoffs. This isn't a Steam review protest, this is much, much different.

Pretty sad to think that there are people out there in the real world that think these kind of actions are going to improve the situation instead of making matters worse. They're not suddenly going to rehire those people, hell a lot of those people probably don't even want to come back after being terminated. The studio would also just end up laying off even more people as a result of the refunds as it'd make them fail even more so.

None of it makes sense, lmao.

 

[Arsic]

I’ll be there day one and I’ll get the supreme version of Marathon.

People focus on the dumbest things when it comes to entertainment. It’s media homie, consume or don’t. Don’t need to make everything agenda driven and go to social media with your dip shit actions.

 

[MMaRsu]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

Why should that matter to a consumer?

They just want to send a message. In this case, Fuck Bungie management.

 

[MMaRsu]

I’ll be there day one and I’ll get the supreme version of Marathon.

People focus on the dumbest things when it comes to entertainment. It’s media homie, consume or don’t. Don’t need to make everything agenda driven and go to social media with your dip shit actions.

Yeah dont complain or let your voice be heard! Thats never helped anyone or anything!

Something something Xbox DRM

 

[manfestival]

You guys aren't making enough money? Well here, HAVE LESS.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Unless they also get rid of everything they have that's made in China including all PPE and common medications due to the slavery and other human rights atrocities, STFU.

 

[MMaRsu]

If it’s delayed, that’s one thing, but refunding because layoffs is stupid. Anybody who has already preordered the game must be a pretty big Destiny/Bungie fan. To cancel that amidst the company having issues is some dumb ass mentality. You’d think fans of the game would want to support the people who make it instead of pretty much kicking them while they’re down.

Haha 'the company having issues'

The issues are all to blame on upper management. How dare someone cancel their pre-order because they are sick of how Bungie treats not only their employees, but also the game they love?

Destiny has become a circlejerk of egregious monetization, I find it fucking sad that people here are pretending that its anything but managements fault, and that cancelling pre-orders isnt going to do any good.

If Id pre-ordered this shit, and saw how Bungie treats people Id be like fuck it too.

I forgot how many corporate dickriders there are on this forum tho.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Most likely all wokesetera communists

Just imagine all the awesome video games we’d have if we eliminated capitalism. It would practically be a utopia!

 

[DaedalusGrim]

Only an idiot would think protesting job losses by spending less money on the company would fix it .

Gamers can be damn stupid sometimes.

And only an even bigger idiot would think that actively spending more money on a shit product is a good idea.

 

[Godot25]

Jimbo: “We believe that Bungie can give us way more than a $69 Billion acquisition of Activision.”

Yup. Sounds about right...

 

[Brigandier]

So a few vocal activists on Reddit = Masses now?

 

[reinking]

 

[CamHostage]

...Whoops.

 

[Arsic]

Yeah dont complain or let your voice be heard! Thats never helped anyone or anything!

Something something Xbox DRM

You haven’t even read what’s going on and posted this I assume.

Because if you did read the information, and then decided to post this, you’ve lost the plot homie.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Nah, I don't believe that.

 

[Arsic]

And only an even bigger idiot would think that actively spending more money on a shit product is a good idea.

How is Destiny 2 a shit product ? Game has a high player base and makes great $.

The real issue for Bungie is when this last expansion finally launches and people complete all the content , then it’ll be GG to the money gravy train for the most part.

That’s when they have to create a new funnel with Marathon. That can hopefully fund the other game they are working on that is meant to take the place of Destiny as their big bread winner.

 

[DrFigs]

Hope that serves as a lesson to any company that wants to fire people ever.

 

[Del_X]

"I'm going to make you even poorer so you can do even more layoffs!"

 

[Ronin_7]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

It doesn't but you're dealing with people that have a 40 IQ so...

 

[MMaRsu]

You haven’t even read what’s going on and posted this I assume.

Because if you did read the information, and then decided to post this, you’ve lost the plot homie.

I have, which plot have I lost?

The part where shares that these people were supposed to obtain a certain period after Sony acquisition, are now reverted to Bungie?

The part where the game has turned into a shithole of monetization, worse than some free to play games?

The part where genuinly talented people who have been with the company for over 10/15+ years, are fired because some shitheel at the top doesn't want to reduce his bonuses?

 

[MMaRsu]

How is Destiny 2 a shit product ? Game has a high player base and makes great $.

How is that a bar for determining if a game is good or not? Lmao

Transformers has had millions of people watching it, and made a shitload at the box office. Does that make it a good movie?

Are you a shareholder or something

 

[mckmas8808]

I fail to understand how refunding and giving Bungie even less revenue helps people who lost their jobs or prevents even more layoffs.

It's the social media "I need to be relevant" crowd.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Pretty sad it only took now for people to realize what shitbags the higher ups at Bungie are.

 

[K' Dash]

Go knock on MS door and make Halo game that doesnt suck.

 

[Arsic]

How is that a bar for determining if a game is good or not? Lmao

Transformers has had millions of people watching it, and made a shitload at the box office. Does that make it a good movie?

Are you a shareholder or something

If enough people fork over money and continue to see Transformers movies — then guess what ? It’s a success. Just means it doesn’t line up with your tastes and opinions on what is a good movie worth your time and $.

If Destiny 2 was so trash it would’ve died long ago.

It didn’t hit goals . Companies have goals , deadlines , and expectations. When things go bad you look at where you cut losses and where you can improve. Companies make bad investment decisions just like regular people as well.

So Bungie firing people if tenor isn’t a big deal if they are responsible for where they are. The guy in charge of Bungie isn’t making the game. He has a completely different role. Idk their bonuses or pay structure so sure he’s likely overpaid and could opt to not take his bonuses to keep some folks around, but he didn’t. Maybe those people aren’t worth keeping ? Maybe they would rather invest in later restructuring and hiring new people to see more success.

Have you worked with people who have been at a company for 10+ years but are like dinosaurs that suck at their job ? I know I have.