Today, Bungie announced 220 employees laid off, accounting for about 17% of its total employees. This news follows the successful launch of the expanded version Destiny 2: Final Form June and another A round of layoffs late last year, prompting former employees and players alike to criticize Bungie’s leadership. To add insult to injury, the company’s CEO locked his account after the news broke to protect himself from online bombardment and criticism.
This morning, as news of Bungie’s latest round of layoffs spread, the company’s fans and gaming industry colleagues alike scoured the Twitter account of Pete Parsons, Bungie’s CEO since 2016. It wasn’t until I tracked him down that I discovered he had set his account to be private, meaning only Parsons’ existing followers could see his posts and reply to him. Many began deriding his resume, which called for “bravery” and said Parsons did not live up to his values.
Since then, Parsons has unlocked his account, possibly in response to the criticism he had already received. Despite this gesture, Parsons did not comment on the layoffs this morning, only sharing the blog post via Bungie’s official Twitter account.
Following the news, disgruntled former employees, Bungie fans and voices from across the gaming industry are now calling for Parsons to take further responsibility and step down. Griffin Bennett, a developer who worked at Bungie from 2018 until the layoffs in 2023, responded to the layoff announcement by calling Parsons by name and demanding his resignation, calling him a “joke.”
Former Bungie visual effects artist Ben Platnick takes it a step further. explain“Pete needs to fucking go. This is mismanagement at the top.” He went on to claim that Parsons’ “spending on R&D destiny Failure to do your best will prove to be an unrewarding money pit. My friends suffered because of it.
Of the teams affected by today’s layoffs, player support groups appear to be particularly hard hit. Some members have begun sharing their own stories about working at Bungie over the past few months final shape They were increasingly distrustful of studio leadership, including Parsons.
Others in the games industry began chiming in, expressing dissatisfaction with Parsons’ leadership and calling for his resignation. Among them was Paul Tassi, who was responsible for destiny For Forbes and destinyContent creator-centric MyNameIsByf.