It's a sad case of another day, another round of mass layoffs at a game studio. On this occasion, Destiny developer Bungie has announced it is letting go of 220 employees, or 17% of its workforce. CEO Pete Parsons said the eliminations were due to "financial challenges," which isn't going down well, especially after it was discovered he may have spent over $2.4 million on classic cars after Sony acquired the company, and continued buying them even after the previous layoffs.
Bungie blames the job eliminations on "rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions." The Sony subsidiary says it needs to make substantial changes to its cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on Destiny and Marathon.
The cuts will impact every level of the company, including executives and senior leader roles – but not Parsons, obviously.
It was only in October 2023 that Bungie made its last round of layoffs, and the news comes just under two months since the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which has been well-received.
In December, Bungie devs told IGN that the atmosphere at the company was "soul-crushing" due to fears of more layoffs, extra cost-cutting measures, and a loss of all independence from Sony if Bungie's financials did not improve. Staff said earlier this year that they feared more job cuts were coming.
The latest layoffs have led to many angry posts on social media from current and former Bungie employees. Destiny 2's global community lead Dylan Gafner (AKA dmg04) called the move "inexcusable," and noted that it's a case of "Accountability falling upon the workers who have pushed the needle to deliver for our community time and time again."
What's angering people even further is the discovery of what seems to be Parsons' account on a car bidding site called Bring a Trailer. It shows he has spent $2.4 million on classic cars since September 2022, which includes $500,000 since the October layoffs.
Yeah! I like this idea. Not sure how feasible it is but I’d sure like to see some billionaire at least try it.
Main problem with this I think is who would get to drive them? Because they need to be driven at least a little to keep their shape and to make sense. Not all people could drive them because they need to be driven carefully, which most people can’t do (brand new track day cars are famously beaten up even after a few years, not exactly the same context but something to keep in mind).
This is why a museum would be perfect. You'd have trained employees to maintain the cars, including taking them for a drive. Plus, you could even sell rides in some of them the way they sell rides in F1 cars. Add in car shows and a cycling of the cars on display the way museums don't have their entire collection on display at all times, and the cars would probably hold up better in the long run.
Ideally, you'd do this with government money pulled from a wealth tax or a foundation rather than trusting some billionaire to do it and maintain the museum.