Bungie getting ahead of the journalists on this one, for once.

Bungie getting ahead of the journalists on this one, for once.

You know, I've been listening to Johnathan Blow a lot lately.

For some time now, he has been predicting that tons of software jobs were going to vanish. His argument was that people just aren't that efficient, and every company has been over hiring. Look at Twitter. It went from 8000 people to 1500 people under Musk. Everyone said the site was going to explode, and it would be a disaster. And yet, it appears to be functioning fine technically. The site still works. Everything is going on as normal. Any difficulties would seem to stem from Musk's decisions about what to prioritize and what not to, rather than a lack of manpower.

Blow argued that people would pick up on this all throughout the software industry, including the games industry, and start cutting jobs when they realize it not only won't hurt productivity, but save money on burn. That pretty much any medium or large sized company could downsize and be either at the same level, or even better off given that larger teams are less productive on a per person basis due to coordination overhead and compartmentalization.

So is this a natural correction, or a sign of Bungie cutting costs to stay afloat? It's probably some of both.

Either way, I think we are seeing the decline after Bungie's peak. Just hoping they can have some level of sustainable success going forward.

Bungie getting ahead of the journalists on this one, for once.

You know, I've been listening to Johnathan Blow a lot lately.

For some time now, he has been predicting that tons of software jobs were going to vanish. His argument was that people just aren't that efficient, and every company has been over hiring. Look at Twitter. It went from 8000 people to 1500 people under Musk. Everyone said the site was going to explode, and it would be a disaster. And yet, it appears to be functioning fine technically. The site still works. Everything is going on as normal. Any difficulties would seem to stem from Musk's decisions about what to prioritize and what not to, rather than a lack of manpower.

Blow argued that people would pick up on this all throughout the software industry, including the games industry, and start cutting jobs when they realize it not only won't hurt productivity, but save money on burn. That pretty much any medium or large sized company could downsize and be either at the same level, or even better off given that larger teams are less productive on a per person basis due to coordination overhead and compartmentalization.

So is this a natural correction, or a sign of Bungie cutting costs to stay afloat? It's probably some of both.

Either way, I think we are seeing the decline after Bungie's peak. Just hoping they can have some level of sustainable success going forward.

It is happening all over. [Gulp!]

Wishing them the best. Especially those who lost their job.

It’s sad to see Bungie becoming a Destiny / Marathon-exclusive developer (assuming Marathon doesn’t sputter and die in its first year). The 155 SIE roles sound like they could just be whisked away by Sony to other projects on a whim though, and that’s a bummer.

Them also tossing a team aside into a new studio is better than outright canceling the project, I guess, but yeah.

Destin3 confirmed… :/

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Pete Parsons has spent over 2 million dollars in the last two years on a vehicle collection alone.

https://x.com/boxrTailored/status/1818689014087795083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1818689014...

https://bringatrailer.com/member/bngpparsons/

He also had no problems flaunting his wealth to employees he planned to let go just days before.

https://x.com/TheSamBartley/status/1818678522397049082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E181867852...

Don't get me started on White Supremacist Elon Musk either.

It is abundantly clear what needs to happen at Bungie in order to address these managerial issues once and for all.

For over five years, it has been our goal to ship games in three enduring, global franchises. To realize that ambition, we set up several incubation projects, each seeded with senior development leaders from our existing teams. We eventually realized that this model stretched our talent too thin, too quickly.  It also forced our studio support structures to scale to a larger level than we could realistically support, given our two primary products in development – Destiny and Marathon. 

Additionally, in 2023, our rapid expansion ran headlong into a broad economic slowdown, a sharp downturn in the games industry, our quality miss with Destiny 2: Lightfall, and the need to give both The Final Shape and Marathon the time needed to ensure both projects deliver at the quality our players expect and deserve. We were overly ambitious, our financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded, and we began running in the red.

"We were overly ambitious"... yeah, I'll say.

At the very least, we finally have an admission of fault and a show of leadership from the man who should have been front-and-center this entire time. So I'll give him kudos for stepping up to the plate at long last, although it's not nearly enough, but I cannot imagine how Bungie managed to put itself in this position at all. This is the inevitable consequence of long-term poor management, plain and simple, and the lowest employees on the totem pole are paying the price as always.

EDIT: Take this with a grain of salt, naturally, but it's possible that the inevitable has already come to pass.

I'm not saying these people are wrong or untruthful, but we should refrain from criticizing Parsons on a personal level because 1) none of us know the man, 2) it's not relevant to the current situation anyway, and 3) the people who are saying these things have a very acute grievance with Parsons and plenty of reason to be angry right now.

What does matter and is relevant here is the management culture at Bungie, which was shaped and led by Parsons in his capacity as CEO and head of the board. That management culture led the company to the precipice where it finds itself today, and that is the reason Parsons must go. (The rest of the executive team needs to be reassessed too, but leadership reform starts with the captain of the ship and it's high time to find a new skipper.)

Destin3 confirmed… :/

I'd go with 'D3stiny', but whatever.

Braid: Anniversary Edition "sold like dog s***", says creator Jonathan Blowhttps://t.co/26cFMFGfdY pic.twitter.com/IAugzi1tq4

— Eurogamer (@eurogamer) July 31, 2024

All I see is that Pete Parsons should be let go or step down. Over-ambitiousness is a cute way of saying mismanagement and failure at a leadership level.

Braid: Anniversary Edition "sold like dog s***", says creator Jonathan Blowhttps://t.co/26cFMFGfdY pic.twitter.com/IAugzi1tq4

— Eurogamer (@eurogamer) July 31, 2024

I mean duh. Who is gonna buy the game again just for commentary?

He's also spent 20 million so far on making a Sokoban style game…

As great as Braid was, did it really need an Anniversary Edition at all? As in, regardless of what came bundled with it?

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My first thought after reading all this?

"I hope Veegie is ok."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"I hope Veegie is ok."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hope GeeVee is ok.

_(:3 」∠)_

This is the inevitable consequence of long-term poor management, plain and simple, and the lowest employees on the totem pole are paying the price as always.

That's kind of an absolute statement, no? Sometimes those high on the totem pole get the axe because that saves the most money. And they did say every level of the company was affected. I think Pete Parsons could be gone tomorrow.

Parsons won't survive this bloodbath. He'll be gone in two years or less, I guarantee it, and I'm pretty sure they're keeping him on-board as the fall guy at this point anyway. Sony certainly would not want the new CEO to kick off his tenure with several rounds of deep-cut layoffs.

Anyway, you're right that the C-suite is feeling the burn this time, so that's a fair point to bring up, but Twitter has made it very clear that the lower levels are feeling it too.

https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1819075149360185737?t=NavssrTjgFmNoWIp8Mn7eQ&s=19

Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy also gone.

I've totally checked out of Destiny for a while. Didn't enjoy the chore it became and didn't want to buy into what Bungie had become. It's a shame. I don't really have anything thst interests me game wise to look forward to anymore.

Sad about Luke and Mark.

Sad you're not playing Blue. The Final Shape is pretty darn great.

I'm not saying these people are wrong or untruthful, but we should refrain from criticizing Parsons on a personal level because 1) none of us know the man, 2) it's not relevant to the current situation anyway, and 3) the people who are saying these things have a very acute grievance with Parsons and plenty of reason to be angry right now.

This. I find the outrage about the car stuff to be stupid. Guy climbed the greasy pole in a competitive, 100 billion dollar industry. He's been compensated for a while. How and when he spends his money is his business. For all we know he's taken a pay cut as part of this change. For all we know he's a total jerk, but having hobbies (even expensive ones) isn't a tell.

What does matter and is relevant here is the management culture at Bungie, which was shaped and led by Parsons in his capacity as CEO and head of the board. That management culture led the company to the precipice where it finds itself today, and that is the reason Parsons must go. (The rest of the executive team needs to be reassessed too, but leadership reform starts with the captain of the ship and it's high time to find a new skipper.)

Yep. What can't go on, won't.

I don't really have anything thst interests me game wise to look forward to anymore.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=182413

Wow... Okay then, so these layoffs are pretty serious, but I'm still not seeing any evidence of change in the C-suite. That seems like the actual source of the problems here. Luke and Mark were both senior-level department heads, but they were not in charge of overall corporate strategy or budget allocation.

I'm not saying these people are wrong or untruthful, but we should refrain from criticizing Parsons on a personal level because 1) none of us know the man, 2) it's not relevant to the current situation anyway, and 3) the people who are saying these things have a very acute grievance with Parsons and plenty of reason to be angry right now.

This. I find the outrage about the car stuff to be stupid.

It isn't just the cars. It's that he allegedly invited a female developer to see said cars and then laid her off days later. It just displays a disconnect.

Guy climbed the greasy pole in a competitive, 100 billion dollar industry. He's been compensated for a while. How and when he spends his money is his business.

He's making the money he is, because of the people at Bungie who actually made the games. Harold Ryan was at least a tester at one point, contributing to the product.

He can spend his money how he wants, but we are also totally free to judge him for it. Nothing is wrong with using your money to make your life comfortable. But once it crosses the line from comfortable to excess, then people are going to rightly form negative opinions.

Notice how Jason Jones makes as much if not more, and yet nobody is calling him out.

It's that he allegedly invited a female developer to see said cars and then laid her off days later.

I'm not ready to extrapolate anything salacious based on one anecdote without further information. Yes, it's a bad look. Yes, I know what you're saying it might imply. But it could be perfectly innocent apart from the fact that it is tone-deaf.

It's a valid question to raise, but I'm not prepared to pass judgment.

Liana has clarified that she didn't mean to imply that he said it like "that".

Again -- it's important to be careful when we criticize people we don't actually know on a personal level. Questions are valid. Judgment based on incomplete information is not.

I'm not saying these people are wrong or untruthful, but we should refrain from criticizing Parsons on a personal level because 1) none of us know the man, 2) it's not relevant to the current situation anyway, and 3) the people who are saying these things have a very acute grievance with Parsons and plenty of reason to be angry right now.

This. I find the outrage about the car stuff to be stupid.

It isn't just the cars. It's that he allegedly invited a female developer to see said cars and then laid her off days later. It just displays a disconnect.

I endorse Coaxkez's response.

Guy climbed the greasy pole in a competitive, 100 billion dollar industry. He's been compensated for a while. How and when he spends his money is his business.

He's making the money he is, because of the people at Bungie who actually made the games. Harold Ryan was at least a tester at one point, contributing to the product.

Pete might be a "suit" in the most derogatory sense. I don't claim to know, but a big company needs a leader. I work for a software company, and part of the mythos around our founder is that he still codes. I see the appeal of that, but you need people who are thinking about the big picture, too. I don't think it's fair to judge value based on whether they've literally contributed to the product. Products have to be sold at a profit, or you can't keep making them. Sounds like Bungie (and Pete) have made some poor decisions that threaten the company's viability. Maybe he's on probation, or maybe he's a placeholder until they have the replacement they want. Bungie will start making money, or Parsons will be gone, and he'll probably be gone regardless.

He can spend his money how he wants, but we are also totally free to judge him for it. Nothing is wrong with using your money to make your life comfortable. But once it crosses the line from comfortable to excess, then people are going to rightly form negative opinions.

Yes, and others are totally free to call that judgment irrelevant. Most readers of this forum would almost certainly be judged as living a life beyond comfortable by most people in the world. It's all relative.

Notice how Jason Jones makes as much if not more, and yet nobody is calling him out.

I suspect he's more reclusive and not as quick to be social, which makes his lifestyle less visible. I guess we'll have to wait for your book.

One more note: maybe it's living in Raleigh and routinely seeing supercars with Epic-related license plates, but I was surprised by Pete's taste (save that Jag).

I don't claim to know, but a big company needs a leader.

Pete is not a good one.

Notice how Jason Jones makes as much if not more, and yet nobody is calling him out.

I suspect he's more reclusive and not as quick to be social, which makes his lifestyle less visible.

Yes, this is the takeaway. Not flaunting your wealth is an OP strategy.

Liana has clarified that she didn't mean to imply that he said it like "that".

Thank you for that piece of context.

So…

Is their new studio in the Netherlands just not happening? What's going on there?

In my teens and 20s, I worked in a record store [nico, you may not have known this?], and it was the perfect job to feed my music obsession. One evening the district supervisor invited me to his house to see his many thousands of albums. I cherish the memory. Yet, if I'd been fired two days later, and I knew he knew it was going to happen, I would have been pissed. Thankfully (for all sorts of reasons), twitter didn't exist yet.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-08-02/sony-s-bungie-maker-of-halo-and-destiny-faces-reckoning-after-m...

Flush with cash, Bungie hired hundreds of new staff members and pursued myriad incubation projects, including mobile versions of Destiny, remakes of old games and new franchises.

We can narrow this down! Bungie doesn't own Myth, Oni, or Halo. So… that leaves Marathon, PiD, and Minotaur. I can't imagine Desert Storm or GNOP getting a remake.

My money would have been on Marathon, as a tie in for their new extraction shooter of the same name.

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Operation Desert Storm 2 would essentially just be Six Days in Fallujah, no?

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https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1819075149360185737?t=NavssrTjgFmNoWIp8Mn7eQ&s=19

Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy also gone.

I've totally checked out of Destiny for a while. Didn't enjoy the chore it became and didn't want to buy into what Bungie had become. It's a shame. I don't really have anything thst interests me game wise to look forward to anymore.

If you didn't see schooly's post
https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=182413

Also, if you didn't see Snipe's post about schooly's post.
https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=182413

You know what? me too.
https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=182413

Right, Cody?

(Unfortunately, I will have gotten home from a long afternoon at my cardiologist's office and will not really have the inclination to do much more than sleep... but if you're going to have corrective surgery on a congenital heart defect, it's better to do it sooner rather than later. Recovery is easier in your 30's too.)

Right, Cody?

(Unfortunately, I will have gotten home from a long afternoon at my cardiologist's office and will not really have the inclination to do much more than sleep... but if you're going to have corrective surgery on a congenital heart defect, it's better to do it sooner rather than later. Recovery is easier in your 30's too.)

In your 30s fix your ticker
For a recovery much quicker

🥁🛎️

Preferably before you have a stroke!

Obviously, I didn't know the problem even existed until then, though...

I have been rolling hard with my side gigs, and my wife threatened me that if I knew what was good for me I would take her out to dinner tonight since I'm not working.

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