https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/11/03/new-revelations-about-destiny-2-declines-bungie-layoffs-and-final-shape-as-make-or-break/?sh=31ffb3a63947
- Internally, really no one is blaming Sony for this, even management. Some employees were told that if the Sony buyout did not happen, that with current Destiny 2 performance the studio itself would have been in jeopardy if they were still independent.
- Management said other levers were looked at to avoid layoffs. When employees asked if one lever was executive compensation, they were told no, and that it would not happen at the company. (Update: Post-publication, Bungie responded saying that CEO Pete Parsons and some other executives previously forfeited annual bonuses before the layoffs. But staff was not informed this happened until yesterday. The sum total of the bonuses given up is not clear).
- Cannot be fully confirmed among every employee but at least to some, D2 director Joe Blackburn is not really considered to be one of the corporate culprits here for how things went down.
- The trendline of spending on the game over time made the current year’s revenue estimates somewhat logical, so yes, the 45% miss is important, and was not necessarily some wildly inflated projection, however nearsighted it ended up being. There has been a real, damaging drop post-Lightfall in terms of player engagement/spending. And Lightfall sold very well.
- Employees are extremely angry with leadership now, and have often communicated that publicly in meetings. Bets were made that did not pay off, but those who made them remain in the company, a fact lost on no one.
- There have been many meetings about microtransactions where many devs wanted to reduce them, but they were always given the reply that they are necessary given how expensive Destiny is to operate. And complaints about new ones don’t always reflect reality. Event Cards may seem lame but they sell well, for instance. Or you’d be surprised how many people are still buying the oldest expansions that we always say should be free by now.
- The ultimate goal is very much for Bungie to be a multi-IP studio with multiple games and revenue streams. But even if Marathon is a success there are likely not plans for some huge mass migration from the Destiny team to the Marathon team, abandoning the franchise.
There's a lot of interesting stuff in here.
General vibe seems to be that people aren't blaming Sony, that things would have been a lot worse without them.
The article pretty much just lists who's not to blame, and it's pretty clear by omission that internally the blame is on Bungie leadership.
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