220 Bungie developers lost their jobs in July, as a dire industry climate of similar layoffs continues well into 2024. As is usually the case, those impacted took to social media to make the human cost of the cuts, which Bungie describe as being due to “enduring economic conditions”, known.
The layoffs themselves have been unceremonious and poorly timed, according to former employees: “Right after a great performance review, I got [laid off],” writes vista artist Weston T. Jones. “This is how I found out I’m laid off,” adds sound designer Tzvi Sherman, quoting Bungie’s announcement on Twitter.
One particularly harrowing example comes from Kelly Jin, a former producer at Bungie, who was laid off right before she received maternity leave benefits: “It’s just really bad timing b/c my maternity leave was supposed to start next Monday and I got laid off today.” Jin adds that her child is due to arrive “literally any day now”.
“NGL, after I found out this morning I keep crying. Partly b/c of pregnancy hormones but partly b/c this is the first time I got laid off. And it’s not even my fault,” Lin says she’d contacted Bungie’s HR to see if she’ll still be eligible for her maternity benefits, but later reveals that her “maternity leave benefits are gone b/c the baby isn’t here yet.”
Which, in face of the possibility that CEO Pete Parsons spent at least $2,414,550 on vintage cars in the last 2 years, has caused some understandable outrage.
Yesterday, Twitter account DestinyNostalgi discovered a profile named bngpparsons on bidding website bringatrailer.com. Adding the winning bids between the dates of June 1, 2024 and September 23, 2022 produces the number above.
DestinyNostalgi then went on to cross-reference photos of the account’s won bids with what appear to be photos of Parsons showing off his collection. For what it’s worth, during my own digging I found (among an avalanche of deleted tweets) a photo at the end of a set of tweets that opens with “E30 m3”, which directly corresponds to a photo of a 38k-Mile 1990 BMW M3 the account bought for $180,000 on October 6, 2022. The tweet was posted October 30, 2022.
I’ve included screenshots of both the tweets and the Bring A Trailer listing here, since I’d wager Parsons simply missed them in what appears to be a rash of social media deletions.
In my opinion, this is pretty damning—although what it damns is a subject for debate. When it comes to the kind of money Bungie makes, $2.4 million over 2 years is pocket change. Parsons not buying these cars wouldn’t have saved the company’s current woes.
This was, of course, Parson’s money to spend. But boy, isn’t it weird that he has so much of it while his now-former employees face anxiety over their basic living expenses? Isn’t it strange that Bungie hasn’t announced any kind of voluntary cuts to his salary, even if it would be a token gesture? Liana Ruppert, a now-former community manager, made a lengthy post to Twitter expressing a similar frustration during her experiences with the company, alleging:
“I remember the Friday before the first layoffs, me and another CM were in the lobby and I was literally talking about how I didn’t have enough money for groceries … Pete walked right up to us and bragged about a few new EXPENSIVE cars he bought and that we should come to his house and see them.”
To see so many employees out of a job following the critical success of Destiny 2’s latest expansion, The Final Shape reminds me of the list of “things that will no longer keep you safe in this industry” written by indie dev Maisie Ó Dorchaidhe during Tango Gameworks’ closure. Making something good is, again, no guarantee of safety. The Sword of Damocles is hanging over developers’ heads, it’d seem, regardless of whether they do good work or not. At least some people are able to afford cars.
