The developer of Destiny 2, Bungie, laid off 220 employees, which represents roughly 17% of the company's workforce, amid "increasing costs of development" and relatively bad "economic conditions."
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons made the announcement on the studio's website which marks the latest in a series of layoffs in the video game industry over the last two years.
He also said that the company was working to integrate some other workers into other departments within Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Bungie Lays Off 220 Employees
These were another 155 individuals and combining them with the 100 people who were laid off in October of last year represents a 40% workforce loss for Bungie in the last 12 months.
Before the first people were laid off last year, the company had roughly 1,200 workers, according to The Verge.
The latest round of layoffs was accompanied by the news that Bungie employees were working on a brand-new game for the studio. In his statement, Parsons said that they are working with PlayStation Studios leadership to "spin out one of our incubation projects."
This was described as an action game that is set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe. Bungie also plans to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios in order to continue its promising development.
Following the layoffs, two former Bungie employees affected by the decision said that they were caught off guard by the sudden reduction. These layoffs also come despite Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion exceeding all internal projections, said TechCrunch.
In the past few months, Bungie management signaled in team meetings that the studio was doing relatively well for itself.
A sound designer at the company for more than two years, Tzivi Sherman, said that he found out about the layoffs from the studio's corporate X account.
Sudden and Unexpected Decision
Shortly after seeing a post about the layoffs, he saw that his position was also among those that were affected by the decision. He said that 45 minutes after he saw the tweet, he received an email with a meeting request and an ominous title.
When he revealed the layoffs, Parsons said that the day was a "difficult and painful day" because of the people that they had to let go.
He noted that employees who were affected will be offered a "generous exit package." This would include severance pay, bonus pay, and health coverage.
Parsons said that the factors that led to the decision forced Bungie to make "substantial changes" to its cost structure and focus development efforts solely on live service looter shooter Destiny 2 and its upcoming game, Marathon, according to IGN.
