Pete Parsons has been targeted by many people, and perhaps rightly so, as he is being criticized by people who used to work for him!
On Wednesday, it was announced that 220 employees, or about 17% of the studio, would be laid off from Bungie, citing the typical reasons (changes in the gaming industry, rising development costs), with another 155 being “integrated” into Sony Interactive Entertainment. In response, several people took to Twitter to express their anger at Pete Parsons. All of them are angry about the decision, and many of them have added personal stories to what they have to say, and it’s hard to guess.
“You are a liar, a thief, and so many things we cannot discuss publicly. Resign, and without the huge payout from Sony. This is not about Sony, this is about leadership failure. Plain and simple,” community manager Liana Ruppert claimed on Twitter. Griffin Bennett, a former Destiny community manager, added: “Pete is a joke. Is the C-Suite taking responsibility for any of this, or is it still just ‘withholding bonuses’ and it’s being ‘handled internally’? Poor leadership has crushed one of the greatest developers of all time. Retire, Pete.”
Sam Bartley, another former Community Manager and Community Coordinator, wrote: “Coward. You did this. You chose this. I’m already listed as ‘do not work with’ and I don’t care anymore. You lied to my face. Right to my face. You also invited me to see your new cars two days before you fired me. Two. Fucking. Days. Leave. Now.”
The Marathon reboot and the Destiny franchise are still in development, and the people who were laid off are getting a good severance package (salaries, bonuses, health benefits). But now we hear from Stephen Totilo, who runs Game File, citing three sources, that the layoffs would have happened even if Destiny 2: The Final Shape had been a huge success. The layoffs were already planned for early 2024!
According to Totilo’s sources, Bungie has consistently missed Sony’s financial targets and has been losing money since the release of Destiny 2: Lightfall in early 2023. When Sony bought Bungie in 2022, they promised full autonomy, but Bungie’s management agreed last year that they needed to “cut deeper” to prove to Sony that they were serious about their finances. That’s why about 100 people were laid off last October, which apparently wasn’t enough.
It’s a joke what’s going on at Bungie.
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