Bungie On Mass Layoffs: “We Know We Have Lost A Lot Of Your Trust”

A few days after laying off almost 8% of its total workforce, Bungie has finally decided to give a statement on the matter. Getting the obvious out of the way, Bungie assures players that the development of Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion, The Final Shape, is going smoothly is going smoothly with a team of over 650 developers currently working on the project.

Bungie addressed the situation and acknowledged that it lost a lot of trust from the community. The company also promises that The Final Shape is going to be one of its best games to date, mentioning Forsaken, The Witch Queen, and The Taken King as the standards they seek to live up to. 

We want to acknowledge the feedback and concerns you have about Lightfall and recent Seasons, as well as your responses to the reveal of The Final Shape. We know we have lost a lot of your trust. Destiny needs to surprise and delight. We haven’t done this enough and that’s going to change.”

The statement itself doesn’t specify anything of note and seems more like an attempt at damage control from Bungie. Since the mass layoffs, public opinion on Destiny 2 has suffered a major blow with players mass refunding their pre-orders of The Final Shape. Players have left no quarter in making their concerns heard in the Destiny 2 subreddit. 

Even before the layoffs, players have repeatedly expressed their frustrations at Bungie regarding the way they’ve handled Destiny 2. From the disappointing release of Lightfall and the easy-to-miss seasonal story content to vaulting content that players had already paid for. Players had been fed up with Bungie for a long while now, contributing to its dwindling player count, which was ironically one of the reasons behind the layoffs. 

The layoffs included many key figures involved in the development of Destiny 2. Of the many employees laid off from Bungie, key figures include composers Michael Salvatori and Michael Sechrist, community manager Liana Ruppert, and art director Lorraine McLees, who has been working at Bungie for 23 years and was responsible for designing the official logo for Halo. 

If you’re one of the unfortunate souls still churning through the endless Destiny 2 grind, consider checking out our guide on the best legendary weapons in Destiny 2. If you’re looking to farm bosses as fast as possible, this write-up on the best boss DPS weapons in the game should incentivize you even further.   

Time will tell whether Bungie will recover from this situation or not. As of now, The Final Shape is set to launch on February 27, 2024, with rumors in the air of a possible delay.