I always tell people I’ve been together destiny Since the first alpha test. For some reason, that’s always been a point of pride for me. My own version of it is, “Hey, I’ve been with this vision from the beginning. I’ve been through the highs and the lows, but I’m still here. But follow a A second round of brutal layoffs appears to have destroyed Bungie and most dedicated to Destiny 2I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of staying “here” is.
Most of Bungie’s layoffs this week have raised some alarms. Not only do they launch nearly two months after their hugely successful launch final shape, Destiny 2It was the end of a decade-long story, but they also tore every aspect of the team apart. The player support team has almost completely disappeared; Raid Designer Has Been Fired, The sound team has been dropped, quality control appears to be primarily handled by Sony rather than Bungie’s in-house team. The narrative team was almost wiped out. It is said that there are still a large number of people staying and continuing to work. Destiny 2but these cuts mark a shift in Bungie’s priorities and suggest that the future of the game will fundamentally change.
according to giant bombJeff Grubb of destiny The community’s approach is wrong. Bungie’s cuts appear to usher in a new vision for the future of live-service gaming, one that moves away from the historically massive annual expansions filled with new regions, assets, and more. Instead, new content will tap into the studio’s existing resources – which seems in line with Updates planned for the remainder of the year— and released in smaller “content packs.” In other words, the team is moving from developing the game to simply keeping the game running.
Bunge will continue to support Destiny 2 Release a smaller version marathon (Estimated 2025) and spin off the games in development in the new series into full-fledged studios under PlayStation. But with a shrinking workforce — Bungie still has more than 800 employees, but has lost hundreds since this time last year — and all these new projects, Destiny 2 I’m just in a vegetative state right now and don’t feel like I’ll be awakened anytime soon.
read more: Bungie developer reacts to mass layoffs: ‘My whole team is gone’
The hope seems to be to continue producing content for the instant service treadmill, but cut spending, which will be reflected in the size of future updates and the number of people actually working on it Destiny 2. Despite repeated calls for Bungie to abandon the game and instead make another numbered sequel to the series, BurundiJason Schreier has comfirmed That Destiny 3The project is believed to have been canceled as part of layoffs, but it was never developed in the first place.
To be clear, most fans believe that after final shape, destiny It slows down when it adds new narrative arcs or potential new games. Following the latest expansion, the studio is redesigning its seasonal mode into an episodic mode, reducing it from four seasons a year to three episodes. Each episode is divided into three acts, which Bungie suggests could be turned into something more. But considering Reaction to relatively weak episode was tepid It’s all underway, players are already starting to feel like they’ve been guided by the studio, and we’re barely out of the woods final shapestartup window.
Now that no new games are confirmed to be coming, the community is left with an increasingly complex and rapidly aging game. The disappointing evolution of a failed content delivery model, and there’s no promise of something better in the near future. They are trapped.
Additionally, community dissatisfaction with Bungie continues to simmer due to a lack of communication about this uncertain future. The studio declined to publicly commit to any future plans beyond what has already been announced, which includes next year’s series and Content pack codename front. People want to be excited about the journey ahead. More importantly, they want to know destiny This is something they can keep coming back to. They want to feel like their investment in the series wasn’t completely wasted. In return, Bungie’s leadership seems content to woo them in the hope that vague promises will materialize, while they tear the studio apart in search of leftover stones to make more money.
Coupled with the confirmation that there are no numbered sequels in the works, the severity of these layoffs, lack of meaningful communication, and abandoned expansions portend a grim future. destiny. Although promoted as the end of the beginning, final shape It’s really starting to feel like the nail in the coffin of gaming. It seems not certain destiny It might even be coming in a few years, or should it be a priority for the studio rather than being a cash cow filled with microtransactions. As long as a certain number of active players can be maintained (and more importantly, expenditure), Bungie seems to have any plans destinyContinued growth is interrupted indefinitely.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, his many-time former CEO, is not affected by this week’s layoffs. destiny Developers claim that this is largely to blame for the team’s struggles. Following the developer’s firing earlier this week, some senior developers who had previously left the studio have been calling for Parsons to resign, with one calling him a “joke” while another blamed the CEO turn destiny Falling into “a money pit with no reward.” As a result, it was discovered that players and employees must now trust Parsons to run the franchise and studio, and he has Spending more than $2.3 million on a car Since Bungie was acquired by Sony.
I believe the talented developers who remain will continue to do their best to take care of destiny, I care about this franchise more than I care to admit. But it pains me that I don’t know if I trust Bungie’s leadership to make it the best it can be. While this may be regrettable, it may be time to destiny go. At least until it’s back in capable and caring hands again.