On Monday, fans were disappointed to see another round of layoffs hit the games industry, this time from Destiny developer and PlayStation Studios owned Bungie.
The industry has been plagued with layoffs at what has felt like a constant pace, and Bungie’s layoff yesterday was yet another studio within PlayStation to have layoffs in the last few months.
Many were quick to point the finger at Sony, who only acquired Bungie a little more than a year ago, though a new report from Forbes’ Paul Tassi says otherwise, per a source.
Layoffs reportedly came “directly from Bungie management, not Sony. This is not about Sony replacing Bungie employees with their own people.” says Tassi’s source.
The source also pointed out that the layoff came right at the end of the month, which meant that Bungie only had to pay for an additional day of benefits coverage for those laid off.
What’s perhaps most important though is how this layoff resulted in company shares returning to Bungie. “Many employees had unvested shares as a result of the Sony purchase.” said the source.
“These shares would be received based on staying with the company for a certain number of years following the sale. But those shares revert to Bungie if you leave, even if you’re fired, which is what’s happening now to many of those affected.”
Tassi also adds that while Bungie may be under the PlayStation banner, these decisions still come down to Bungie itself, thanks to its independent status within PlayStation.
Wherever the layoffs come from, it’s disappointing to see them happen at all. It’s of course worth noting that all this just comes from an unnamed source, but by that same token Bungie has yet to come out and actually make a statement on the layoffs.
The layoffs also coincided with reports that both the coming Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2 and Bungie’s reboot of Marathon have been delayed.
Source – [Forbes]