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[ArtHands]

ign.com/destiny-2/218921/news/games-industry-criticizes-bungie-management-ceo-pete-parsons-in-wake-of-layoffs-inexcusable

Today, Destiny developer Bungie announced another massive round of layoffs following several months of internal turmoil and the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. In a post on Bungie's blog, CEO Pete Parsons announced that 220 roles, or 17% of Bungie's workforce, were eliminated due to "financial challenges."

many employees expressed that their own layoffs were unexpected due to recent actions taken by leaders at Bungie. One music designer shared that they were reassured that they were needed, only to be laid off today.

Another employee shared that she was laid off just a month after being promoted.

few people also noted that Bungie's player support team was heavily impacted. One employee noted that her "whole team is gone," while a former community manager (whose position was eliminated during Bungie's last round of layoffs) noted that player support employees dealt with harsh conditions and "worked harder than anyone else, through weekends - holidays - and the pay was atrocious, only to [get] tossed out so LY could get their personal buyouts."

Others, including more former employees of Bungie, demanded that Parsons take a pay cut or step down.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Did they report on Humble closure?

 

[Interfectum]

Lots of pronouns in those bios.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

So some of these people are basically saying... it wasn't supposed to be me, it was supposed to be someone else? I was supposed to be safe?

Is that what we are doing now?

 

[rm082e]

So some of these people are basically saying... it wasn't supposed to be me, it was supposed to be someone else? I was supposed to be safe?

Is that what we are doing now?

That's always the feeling right? The people who sacrifice and work harder and take less pay have a hope/expectation that they'll be rewarded with something on the other side. And of course the executives will always sacrifice anyone and everyone below them at the drop of a hat before they would risk any impact to themselves.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm not one to defend Sony very often, but honestly the size of Bungie is pretty ridiculous and I don't doubt Totoki's criticisms at all. So that's not really "inexcusable." If you just put out nothing but DLC for 7 years, you may have some trouble paying the bills. I mean, they missed their own projections by like 40%, and they just sold their company to Sony after essentially lying about how much money they were projected to make. That's a pretty solid justification for dramatically restructuring the entire damn thing however they want.

Sounds like Bungie upper management should be ejected from orbit though.

 

[Interfectum]

That's always the feeling right? The people who sacrifice and work harder and take less pay have a hope/expectation that they'll be rewarded with something on the other side. And of course the executives will always sacrifice anyone and everyone below them at the drop of a hat before they would risk any impact to themselves.

I've managed people for years, you don't get rid of the good ones. Everyone believes they are a hard worker and can't be replaced. The latter is never true.

There is a reason why these people were picked.

 

[reinking]

Lots of pronouns in those bios.

I don't even look at that stuff. Not sure why so many are obsessed with it (from both sides).


I have only been laid off once, and like Nadia, I was working my ass off. It was devastating, not because I was concerned about finances but because I had to wake up the next day with nothing to do. It felt like coming off of the freeway doing 90 mph on a long trip and suddenly being in a 10 mph zone.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

That's always the feeling right? The people who sacrifice and work harder and take less pay have a hope/expectation that they'll be rewarded with something on the other side. And of course the executives will always sacrifice anyone and everyone below them at the drop of a hat before they would risk any impact to themselves.

Can we all stop pretending that everything that has to do with gaming/businesses/studios... doesn't all come down to money?

Executives will always be executives, 9 outta 10 of such executives (regardless of which kinda business) will sooner fire some people before they take any pay cuts. This is know, has always been the case and will likely always be the case.

And even though I sympathize for those who lose their jobs... its just the way it is.

But I am sorry, I cannot sympathize with anyone saying stuff that sounds remotely like they are suggesting someone else should have been thrown under the bus. How do we know that as hard as these people say or claim they worked, those that were retained weren't working harder?

Anyways... lets not derail this thread... I just don't like the tone of some of those people.

 

[RoboFu]

Everyone is getting laid off across job industries this year. I got laid off the beginning of this year. Disney just laid off a bunch of people. It's not a singular person or industry.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Don't hate Bungie for how it ended. Love them for the opportunity.

 

[diffusionx]

Having a studio of of 1200 people with its only cash flow being from a decade old live service game that is impossible for new players to get into seems like a really bad idea.

How does industry leading talent make Lightfall?

 

[GHG]

I don't even look at that stuff. Not sure why so many are obsessed with it (from both sides).


I have only been laid off once, and like Nadia, I was working my ass off. It was devastating, not because I was concerned about finances but because I had to wake up the next day with nothing to do. It felt like coming off of the freeway doing 90 mph on a long trip and suddenly being in a 10 mph zone.

Sorry, but Nadia *claims* she was working her ass off, meanwhile:

 

[reinking]

But I am sorry, I cannot sympathize with anyone saying stuff that sounds remotely like they are suggesting someone else should have been thrown under the bus. How do we know that as hard as these people say or claim they worked, those that were retained weren't working harder?

A lot of times layoffs are not about the individual employees. As matter of fact, when I was laid off, my boss due to contractual obligations with the company that was taking over our jobs, was not allowed to participate in the hiring process in any way. She could not even answer if employee A was a great employee. (He was )

 

[Gaiff]

Sorry, but Nadia *claims* she was working her ass off, meanwhile:

I don't get it. A bunch of tweets are supposed to prove she wasn't working hard?

 

[rm082e]

I've managed people for years, you don't get rid of the good ones. Everyone believes they are a hard worker and can't be replaced. The latter is never true.

There is a reason why these people were picked.

I'm a manager as well. Obviously when you can, you stack rank your people and lay off the folks at the bottom. You keep your best people. But that's not always the situation.

About 2 years ago, I had to lay off half of my team. I had to let go of people who were great that I had worked with for many years and really liked/respected. I didn't want to let them go. But the business was in the red and we had to "right size" the staff in order to keep the doors open. It was the hardest thing I've had to deal with in my professional life, but it wasn't like I had any other choice - I had to let go of good hard working people.

 

[reinking]

Sorry, but Nadia *claims* she was working her ass off, meanwhile:

Well fuck Nadia for eating on company time.

Spoiler

I know what you are saying, I am just being a

 

[GHG]

I don't get it. A bunch of tweets are supposed to prove she wasn't working hard?

If you are working your ass off flat out you don't have time to make matcha lattes for your colleagues, go home for lunch to cook for yourself and make some extravagant Italian breakfast on a Wednesday morning.

Quintessential millennial/gen Z bullshit.

 

[Gaiff]

If you are working your ass off flat out you don't have time to make matcha lattes for your colleagues, go home for lunch to cook for yourself and make some extravagant Italian breakfast on a Wednesday morning.

Quintessential millennial bullshit.

Because you were there to see all of this? You know how the corporate culture is at Bungie? You know the context of this? I'm sorry but that's just weak.

 

[Interfectum]

I'm a manager as well. Obviously when you can, you stack rank your people and lay off the folks at the bottom. You keep your best people. But that's not always the situation.

About 2 years ago, I had to lay off half of my team. I had to let go of people who were great that I had worked with for many years and really liked/respected. I didn't want to let them go. But the business was in the red and we had to "right size" the staff in order to keep the doors open. It was the hardest thing I've had to deal with in my professional life, but it wasn't like I had any other choice - I had to let go of good hard working people.

Sure that can happen, especially when entire teams are let go. But you know the really good workers will pick themselves up and go for a new job the next day, not throw their previous employer under the bus and call for the CEO's head on twitter. It's clear as day why those people were let go and not kept at Bungie or absorbed into Sony.

 

[GHG]

Because you were there to see all of this? You know how the corporate culture is at Bungie? You know the context of this? I'm sorry but that's just weak.

If the corporate culture dictates that you have enough time to make fresh matcha lattes for everyone and time to go home and cook for lunch then it's a corporate culture with glaring inefficiencies.

There's a reason why a lot of these people have gravitated towards careers in videogames in recent years, in the west they are nothing more than adult daycare centers. If they had to go somewhere that meant you actually had to work flat out while producing quality work then they would claim "mental health" and it would fall on deaf ears.

Just my two cents.

 

[Gaiff]

If the corporate culture dictates that you have enough time to make fresh matcha lattes for everyone and time to go home and cook for lunch then it's a corporate culture with glaring inefficiencies.

I haven't dug through her tweets but did she go home and cook? You're making an awful lot of assumptions. Was she remote and on her lunch break? Because the tweet you posted of the breakfast was posted at 2:30 pm Central Time which is Chicago's time zone. I could easily say that she woke up 2 hours earlier and cooked and then went to work. A match latte can be done in as little as 5 minutes.

There's a reason why a lot of these people have gravitated towards careers in videogames in recent years, in the west they are nothing more than adult daycare centers. If they had to go somewhere that meant you actually had to work flat out while producing quality work then they would claim "mental health" and it would fall on deaf ears.

Just my two cents.

Cool, but your two cents are just accusing someone of lying for saying they work hard. As a proof, you try to demonize them by posting a bunch of tweets of stuff they cooked. There are some insane leaps of judgement there. It seems that you just think she's a lazy person and want her to be, hence why you accused her of "quintessential millennial bullshit" as if millennials didn't work a lot of hours all the while getting a shit pay.

You could be right for all we know, but cooking tweets to prove she's full of shit? This ain't it.

 

[Punished Miku]

Cool, but your two cents are just accusing someone of lying [...] As a proof, you try to demonize them

I for one, am shocked.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Lots of pronouns in those bios.

First thing i noticed

 

[Greggy]

I've managed people for years, you don't get rid of the good ones. Everyone believes they are a hard worker and can't be replaced. The latter is never true.

There is a reason why these people were picked.

Of course there's a reason. But if someone was promoted one month and let go before the next, it's difficult to argue that it's because of performance.
Unless Bungie randomly picks staff to promote, maybe that's your argument.

 

[GHG]

I haven't dug through her tweets but did she go home and cook? You're making an awful lot of assumptions. Was she remote and on her lunch break? Because the tweet you posted of the breakfast was posted at 2:30 pm Central Time which is Chicago's time zone. I could easily say that she woke up 2 hours earlier and cooked and then went to work. A match latte can be done in as little as 5 minutes.

Cool, but your two cents are just accusing someone of lying for saying they work hard. As a proof, you try to demonize them by posting a bunch of tweets of stuff they cooked. There are some insane leaps of judgement there. It seems that you just think she's a lazy person and want her to be, hence why you accused her of "quintessential millennial bullshit" as if millennials didn't work a lot of hours all the while getting a shit pay.

You could be right for all we know, but cooking tweets to prove she's full of shit? This ain't it.

The tweet literally says "this is why I don't have lunch at work".

It's not about "demonising" them, it's about not taking them claiming to have worked their arses off at face value. Her twitter page paints a very different story to the victim she's claiming to be at the moment.

Keep white knighting though, some of what I've said has clearly hit a nerve.

I for one, am shocked.

You're probably the same considering the amount of time you have to play all the shit games you do.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I've managed people for years, you don't get rid of the good ones. Everyone believes they are a hard worker and can't be replaced. The latter is never true.

There is a reason why these people were picked.

So have I and maybe that's true for your industry, or company, but I've specifically been told to fire two people that were top skill just last year because the company was broke and couldn't afford their salaries. They purposely fired them so they could replace them with fresh out of school bodies at half the salary cost max regardless of performance. They just couldn't afford them and that's all there was to it.

 

[twilo99]

Why does everyone around here overreact when it comes to layoffs?

It’s normal in the business cycle so just relax lol

 

[Interfectum]

So have I and maybe that's true for your industry, or company, but I've specifically been told to fire two people that were top skill just last year because the company was broke and couldn't afford their salaries. They purposely fired them so they could replace them with fresh out of school bodies at half the salary cost max regardless of performance. They just couldn't afford them and that's all there was to it.

Has there been a noticeable drop in productivity from that area of the company?

 

[RagnarokIV]

Overinflated crap company that currently is contributing nothing to Sony.

Sorry, it's harsh but it's true. Lose the excess fat.

 

[Fake]

Time from time and western will understand why they are in this endless abyss.

 

[Interfectum]

Overinflated crap company that currently is contributing nothing to Sony.

Sorry, it's harsh but it's true. Lose the excess fat.

There is a lot more to lose. There are too many people making too many games.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Business is business. If Bungie has to layoff people and reorg some to Sony then it's no different than all the other tech companies laying off people. The gravy train of hiring like crazy years back and maxed out sales during covid came and went.

The key stickler in all of this is the CEO is a showboaty person bragging about what he's got. If he was just a typical suit and tie CEO who you only hear about during quarterly earnings reports in a Reuters and Bloomberg article stating boring business news, it wouldnt sting as much.

But leave it to video game employees being weird always looking for attention.

 

[Dynasty8]

The Lianna Ruppert girl got laid off last year and she's still obsessively hate tweeting. This is a person who says "you can't be racist towards white people" and continues being racist against white people. She's constantly arguing online with others and it's clear she didn't deserve the job.

Getting laid off sucks, but I wouldn't take the word of SOME disgruntled employees.

The main issue still revolves with Bungie being way in over their heads during COVID and over hiring a shit ton of people. Never should have happened. Cut the activists and other jobs that aren't 100% required and focus on the actual team that makes games.

 

[GHG]

Why does everyone around here overreact when it comes to layoffs?

It’s normal in the business cycle so just relax lol

Because the softies that work at these companies post on social media that they are sad and need a cuddle, so people get emotional on their behalf.

 

[Nydius]

“Industry leading talent”? Is that why Lightfall and Final Shape were a complete mess? Is that why a lot of the content pumped out by these people were literal copy/paste recycled stuff from past expansions?

I don’t revel in anyone losing their jobs— I’ve been on the receiving end of layoffs multiple times — but goddamn the entitlement and self-importance of people in the games industry is insane. People get laid off in every industry, every day, the games business isn’t special or immune. They don’t take to social media to call themselves the best and throw their other employees under the bus (“it should have been someone else!”).

 

[Codes 208]

the ceo is clearly replacing staff with retro cars

Taking the AI takeover to a whole new level

 

[YuLY]

It is awful when people get to lose their jobs, maybe some cant find sources of money to put food on the table. With that being said, it is interesting how 90% of these people have pronouns in their bios, some even in the name. No seriously, look it up, 90% of them

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The Lianna Ruppert girl got laid off last year and she's still obsessively hate tweeting. This is a person who says "you can't be racist towards white people" and continues being racist against white people. She's constantly arguing online with others and it's clear she didn't deserve the job.

Getting laid off sucks, but I wouldn't take the word of SOME disgruntled employees.

The main issue still revolves with Bungie being way in over their heads during COVID and over hiring a shit ton of people. Never should have happened. Cut the activists and other jobs that aren't 100% required and focus on the actual team that makes games.

Because the softies that work at these companies post on social media that they are sad and need a cuddle, so people get emotional on their behalf.

That's techie workers for ya. Odd people who has social media like Twitter attached to the hip.

Like everyone, I know tons of people laid off from jobs (me included 15 years ago). I have never seen any coworker (me included too) go on any social media whether it's Linkedin, Twitter, FB ranting and raving.

And my circle of coworker buddies (and even ones you arent really good friends with but add them to Linkedin as a colleague connection) are concentrated in either finance/banking or manufacturing/consumer companies. Not once seen any weird posts. People always act professional when it involves their career even if they hate their boss and got fired.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I'm not one to defend Sony very often, but honestly the size of Bungie is pretty ridiculous and I don't doubt Totoki's criticisms at all. So that's not really "inexcusable." If you just put out nothing but DLC for 7 years, you may have some trouble paying the bills. I mean, they missed their own projections by like 40%, and they just sold their company to Sony after essentially lying about how much money they were projected to make. That's a pretty solid justification for dramatically restructuring the entire damn thing however they want.

Sounds like Bungie upper management should be ejected from orbit though.

I'm not usually upboting you, but that's a pretty good summary.

 

[PeteBull]

It is awful when people get to lose their jobs, maybe some cant find sources of money to put food on the table. With that being said, it is interesting how 90% of these people have pronouns in their bios, some even in the name. No seriously, look it up, 90% of them

That studio didnt make good(both in terms of quality and sales) game from 2017(destiny2 launch) so in 3 months 7 years already and we didnt get even teaser trailer of their new project.
Couldnt care less about bungie anymore.

 

[GHG]

That's techie workers for ya. Odd people who has social media like Twitter attached to the hip.

Like everyone, I know tons of people laid off from jobs (me included 15 years ago). I have never seen any coworker (me included too) go on any social media whether it's Linkedin, Twitter, FB ranting and raving.

And my circle of coworker buddies (and even ones you arent really good friends with but add them to Linkedin as a colleague connection) are concentrated in either finance/banking or manufacturing/consumer companies. Not once seen any weird posts. People always act professional if it involves their career even if they hate their boss and got fired.

Yep it's seen as unprofessional in any other industry, to the extent where it would be career suicide.

 

[Gaiff]

The tweet literally says "this is why I don't have lunch at work".

Huh, yeah, so maybe she works remote most of the time lol? How long is their lunch break? Does she live 5 minutes away from the office? Was it a restaurant? And so on.

It's not about "demonising" them, it's about not taking them claiming to have worked their arses off at face value. Her twitter page paints a very different story to the victim she's claiming to be at the moment.

Keep white knighting though, some of what I've said has clearly hit a nerve.

No one's white-knighting. You took 3 fucking tweets and concluded that she's a liar. I even said you might be correct, but what you did sure as shit proves nothing. Your take is just completely ludicrous. Then you accused her of quintessential millennial bullshit. As if your shit-tier investigative journalism proved or disproved anything. Your post was just dumb. That's why I took issue with it. You know almost nothing of her work ethic, but 3 tweets are supposed to tell exactly how she is? Sure lol.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yep it's seen as unprofessional in any other industry, to the extent where it would be career suicide.

Thats probably why many of these techie weirdos cry they cant get another job. Their best hope is a whiney company with a whiny HR and hiring manager loves that stuff and gives them a chance to join in their corporate stupidity.

It's not hard to get a new job. when I said above tons of people I know get laid off (most people do at some point in their career), I dont think I know one person who got axed who didnt get a new job in a handful of months. Maybe half a year tops. As long as you seem like a good person, got a good resume, and have a clean social media presence since some companies do snoop around google searching people, then it increases your chances of getting rehired.

Being a jackass on social media with weird profiles will really limit your employment opportunities because a lot of companies red flag that shit and want no part of it. Their best hope is a company that enjoys that kind of person and worker.

Somehow techie workers dont understand that, when everyone else does.

 

[Kacho]

I was listening to a Skill Up video about this. He said “industry leading” staff were laid off, and I’m seeing the same sentiment in those tweets. “I’m such an awesome worker!” like we’re just supposed to take this at face value. This absurdity is way too common these days and I think it’s obnoxious.

Edit: “industry leading” lol….

 

[demigod]

I haven't dug through her tweets but did she go home and cook? You're making an awful lot of assumptions. Was she remote and on her lunch break? Because the tweet you posted of the breakfast was posted at 2:30 pm Central Time which is Chicago's time zone. I could easily say that she woke up 2 hours earlier and cooked and then went to work. A match latte can be done in as little as 5 minutes.

Cool, but your two cents are just accusing someone of lying for saying they work hard. As a proof, you try to demonize them by posting a bunch of tweets of stuff they cooked. There are some insane leaps of judgement there. It seems that you just think she's a lazy person and want her to be, hence why you accused her of "quintessential millennial bullshit" as if millennials didn't work a lot of hours all the while getting a shit pay.

You could be right for all we know, but cooking tweets to prove she's full of shit? This ain't it.

You think she cooked that before work but left it at home for some stupid reason? You think she went home to microwave it instead of using the microwave at work?

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

So some of these people are basically saying... it wasn't supposed to be me, it was supposed to be someone else? I was supposed to be safe?

Is that what we are doing now?

There's literally a person that was promoted a month ago and now was fired. If that doesn't scream "bad management" to you i don't know what will.

I must be living in a parallel universe to most people answering. Y'all talking about pronouns...? I see everyone talking and criticizing the people fired...not the management that's clearly doing a terrible job with this studio for years.

 

[Gaiff]

You think she cooked that before work but left it at home for some stupid reason? You think she went home to microwave it instead of using the microwave at work?

I haven't got the faintest fucking idea because it's a picture...I have no idea of the context, how long it took, what she was up to, or if she was even on the clock. Was it a restaurant?

Did you? Know, you didn't. That's why it's dumb as hell to call her out using tweets.

By all means though, keep replying with your laughing emojis like the good little troll you are. Always good for a laugh to see you try and make sense and miserably fail at it.

 

[Interfectum]

That's techie workers for ya. Odd people who has social media like Twitter attached to the hip.

Like everyone, I know tons of people laid off from jobs (me included 15 years ago). I have never seen any coworker (me included too) go on any social media whether it's Linkedin, Twitter, FB ranting and raving.

And my circle of coworker buddies (and even ones you arent really good friends with but add them to Linkedin as a colleague connection) are concentrated in either finance/banking or manufacturing/consumer companies. Not once seen any weird posts. People always act professional when it involves their career even if they hate their boss and got fired.

Yup... totally not unhinged behavior. I would not hire any of those people whining on Twitter right now. They would be bad news for any future employer.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

All aboard the train of self-righteous indignation!

Choo-choo!