Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

Ben Lewis, Destiny 2's Communications Director, has left Bungie. Yesterday, Jaremy Rich, Managing Director of Revenue and Product Management at Bungie, also announced his departure after 7.5 years. Rich has joined SIE as the Head of Product Management for Live Service games.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

"Live service"

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I thought Sony was supposed to take over Bungie, not the other way around.

 

[Hugare]

Bungie had one GAAS success (that became F2P after it failed to meet expectations) and suddenly Sony see them as experts

 

[OverHeat]

Good luck with that

 

[adamsapple]

Bungie really out here shaping up SIE to their whim.

 

[ReBurn]

Leaves Sony to work for Sony

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

So he left the Bungie part of Sony....
Hopefully Sony GAAS titles end up solid and aren't full of GAAS.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Yuck

 

[Interfectum]

How long before Bungie is sold to Tencent or Netease?

 

[Fabieter]

Oh boy good luck with that I guess.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Why I am thinking they are trying to hide something with their combined announcement? 2 key people are leaving Bungie but only one is going to Sony HQ?

 

[Punished Miku]

This is pretty much what they announced Bungie was going to do, so not that surprising.

The real headline here is that he spells his name with an "A." Jar-emy?

 

[Evolved1]

get ready to pay 45 dollars for every microtransaction until the whole thing crumbles under the weight of its own greed. scumbag company.

 

[ZehDon]

Bungie had one GAAS success (that became F2P after it failed to meet expectations) and suddenly Sony see them as experts

They are. Destiny was one of the pioneers in the GaaS space, it’s been around a decade, and it survived two failed GaaS launches. I’m not a fan of Destiny 2 after they took away my paid content, but if I was a company looking to milk every last dollar out of the poor schmucks who buy my games, I’d be listening to Bungie.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

So he left the Bungie part of Sony....
Hopefully Sony GAAS titles end up solid and aren't full of GAAS.

Helldivers 2 surely is a good start.

 

[Unknown?]

Helldivers 2 surely is a good start.

And Gran Turismo 7.

 

[theHFIC]

Crazy to leave a company for a job at a company where your role will be to eventually shut down your old company.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

So this is the guy that's going to fuck up Helldivers 2, huh?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

 

[Banjo64]

Man leaves Sony to join Sony.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Enough with live service games please.

 

[Freeman76]

Destiny 2 is a scumfest with its monetization, they do anything to get their hands in your pockets. Everyone blamed Activision but they got worse after the split. This canr be good news lol

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

So this is the guy that's going to fuck up Helldivers 2, huh?

Why and how exactly? He has nothing to do with Helldivers.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Sony studios and live service trash

God bless East Asian 3rd party publishers and studios.

 

[AJUMP23]

Good luck to him turning around the issues of owning Bungie have brought into Sony.

 

[Hugare]

They are. Destiny was one of the pioneers in the GaaS space, it’s been around a decade, and it survived two failed GaaS launches. I’m not a fan of Destiny 2 after they took away my paid content, but if I was a company looking to milk every last dollar out of the poor schmucks who buy my games, I’d be listening to Bungie.

Doesnt mean that their next product will be as successful or they now know the formula for success, specially with other genres

Destiny was a huge letdown after all the hype but still made a lot of money due to said hype. Destiny 2 didnt sell nearly as much at launch, and became a success after it became F2P years later.

The expansions are great, and so is their support. Doesn't mean they should have a say in how ND was building Factions, for example, or any other studio not working on a FPS game.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Bungie infiltrating SIE top management; hopefully that doesn't mean MTX galore in Sony's upcoming live service games.

 

[Fake]

Leaves Sony to work for Sony

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Why and how exactly? He has nothing to do with Helldivers.

He's in charge of the GaaS initiative. Helldivers is a second-party title. Somehow he will screw that forcing MTX and shit, like they tried with Factions. Don't underestimate human incompetence.

 

[Represent.]

Disgusting

 

[SaucyJack]

Leaves Sony to work for Sony

Yes. Has left Bungie to join Sony is a weird way of describing an internal move

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

the implications are weird.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Does this mean more like destiny and less like HD2? I sure hope not.

 

[Clear]

Or you could look at it as Bungie starting to get their marching orders from Sony. I.e. You are going to start justifying you purchase cost to the Playstation brand mothership sooner than you thought.

Remember a lot of that purchase price was tied into retention bonuses, which in turn may well have been tied to revenue targets...

People expecting Sony to just unload Bungie are nuts. They own the IP, and are going to want to see what they can generate using those IP's before they do anything. Losing management is neither here nor there, for a start off they are a tiny proportion of the total workforce and quite frankly trying to setup again from scratch in the current economy/overall state of the industry will not be easy.

No offence, but they've fucked off MS, and Activision already, add Sony to that list and who's left to bankroll them?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Another example showing just how laughable the reporting and narrative surrounding Bungie has been.

 

[Loomy]

They are. Destiny was one of the pioneers in the GaaS space, it’s been around a decade, and it survived two failed GaaS launches. I’m not a fan of Destiny 2 after they took away my paid content, but if I was a company looking to milk every last dollar out of the poor schmucks who buy my games, I’d be listening to Bungie.

It still boggles my mind how people look at what Bungie has done with Destiny over the last 10 years and think they don't know what they're doing. Yeah, they've been going through a rough patch the last little while, but the product is still solid, and it's still generating money for them.

Does this mean more like destiny and less like HD2? I sure hope not.

It just means someone with experience in live service games leading a team advising studios how to make sure their games don't die coming out of the gate.

 

[mitch1971]

Jaremy.

 

[Loomy]

He's in charge of the GaaS initiative. Helldivers is a second-party title. Somehow he will screw that forcing MTX and shit, like they tried with Factions. Don't underestimate human incompetence.

We have no idea what happened to Factions.

 

[Katatonic]

More red meat for haters to spread FUD while Sony keeps releasing banger after banger.

 

[DJ12]

Looks like Sony are taking the staff they want before closing or selling off bungie.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Helldivers 2 surely is a good start.

Did he help with that?

 

[amigastar]

I bet he's rich.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[solidus12]

How long before Bungie is sold to Tencent or Netease?

The sooner the better.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Did he help with that?

You were talking Sony Gaas.

 

[DrFigs]

Yeah seems like a good decision considering how successful destiny 2 has been.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

We used to call this getting promoted...

This happens all the time. Herman Hulst was Studio Head of Guerrilla Games before becoming head of PlayStation Studios.

By taking talent from across your subsidiaries, you bolster your talent at your headquarters and create new opportunities for people internally or externally at your subsidiaries.

Hell Kaz Hirai went from head of SCEI to CEO of Sony Corp.

Not sure why this is news.

 

[ReBurn]

Crazy to leave a company for a job at a company where your role will be to eventually shut down your old company.

Might as well be the first to jump ship before it all goes down.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

We used to call this getting promoted...

Not sure why this is news.

The narrative above all else.

Every flick of the wind is proof that Bungie is dead and PlayStation is going to sell and everyone is going to make my favorite games again.