Bungie CEO Pete Parsons has confirmed on Twitter that the company is laying off employees.
Pete shared this statement on the social network:
“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio. What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.
These are truly talented people. If you have openings, I would highly recommend each and every one of them.”
Pete is getting criticism for these tweets in his comments, with many sharing the sentiment that he is being insincere. Some are pointing out that Pete promised his employees when Bungie was in the process of being acquired by Sony, that it would not lead to layoffs of any kind.
Yesterday we had reported that Michael Salvatori and Michael Sechrist indicated on their respective websites that they were no longer working for Bungie. Salvatori shared a message to Forbes contributor Paul Tassi after Paul had reached out to him, confirming that himself and other Bungie employees did not retire or resign, but were fired.
This was Salvatori’s message:
“Hi, Paul.
Thanks for reaching out to me, and for your kind words.
The last 24 hours have been crazy, and I’m still sorting through my feelings. Many of my good friends were also let go, and I feel awful for them. My heart goes out to everyone who lost their job yesterday.
Regarding myself, the overwhelming feeling I have is one of gratitude. Beginning in 1997, Bungie provided me the opportunity to contribute music to some of the most amazing games ever made. I’ve been truly blessed to work with so many awesome, creative people over the years,. I’ve learned so much from them, not only as a composer, but as a human being, during my time there.
One of the things that I always loved about being a part of the teams was our willingness to take risks, which has always been a part of Bungie’s DNA. And when we would fail, we wouldn’t retreat, we’d reload. That is at the heart of what kept me engaged year after year, through success and failure.
I truly wish the best for my friends who are still there, and I have no doubt that they will be able to right the ship. To the fans, please don’t hate on them. Give them a chance to blow you away, like they’ve done so many times before.
Peace to all!
Mike”
Many former employees have also tweeted about leaving the company. We will put the spotlight on one account of what happened behind the scenes to illustrate how poorly Bungie handled this situation. This former employee will remain anonymous, but shared their story to Zavallr, with permission to share it on Twitter:
“This morning (my off day), I woke up to a text telling me to make my way to the office for a ‘important’ meeting. When I got there the news had already been broken. It was a nightmare. People were crying at their desks, packing stuff up, and I checked my email and got the unfortunate news. I wasn’t even told in person.
By the time I left my badge and everything had already been deactivated.
I don’t know what I am going to do at all.”
