Bungie has not been in the greatest spot as of late. Sony recently hit the studio again publicly as the PlayStation CEO interim, Hiroki Totoki, spoke about Bungie in a recent financial results briefing. There are areas that PlayStation would like to see handled better at the studio and would like Bungie to take more responsibility. I’m sure this will be great for the studio’s morale.
In a recent VGC post, we found that Hiroki Totoki had spoken about Bungie in a recent financial results briefing. The comments made were that the PlayStation chairman had the chance to visit the studio recently and found that the employees were highly motivated and showed great creativity. However, there were areas that PlayStation wants to see improved from Bungie.
Bungie would need to see improvements in business expenses and take accountability for development timelines. There is an open dialogue channel as the two look to make the necessary improvements. But these reports about Bungie and its not-so-pleasant situation have gone on for a little while now. In fact, we had reports that seemed to suggest there wasn’t the greatest morale within the studio’s offices.
If you don’t recall, we saw a hundred employees fired from the studio late last year. It was noted that this was Bungie’s decision and likely a means to help with their financial situation. That’s important to note because when Sony acquired Bungie, they did so with the studio’s ability to remain independent. However, to ensure that Sony didn’t completely take them over, the studio had to hit some financial goals.
Bungie would be forced to hit a specific financial goal to keep Sony from taking control. The dwindling sales and loss of players sticking around on Destiny 2 have likely made the threat of a Sony takeover looming within the offices. As a result, this next Destiny 2 DLC, The Final Shape, might be a make or break for the company. Unfortunately, the development process for this DLC has not been smooth.
The studio had initially planned to bring this game expansion out last year, but it’s now set to launch on June 4, 2024. It will be interesting to see if this DLC manages to bring players back to Destiny 2 and if the financial goals are met to keep Bungie running independently.
