31 October 2023 , 11:00
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Nearly two years after it was acquired by PlayStation, Destiny 2 developer Bungie’s job cuts are expected to slow down the content pipeline.
Destiny 2 developer Bungie is the latest studio to undergo a wave of layoffs in the video game industry this year, following in the wake of other developers already affected such as Team17, Gearbox Software and others. It comes mere weeks after other PlayStation first-party studios, Naughty Dog and Media Molecule, also announced employee cuts as both focus on rescoping their internal projects. Unsurprisingly, then, the Destiny 2 Final Shape expansion is thought to have been delayed as a result, though Bungie itself is yet to confirm.
News of the Final Shape expansion’s delay comes from a Bloomberg report (paywalled), which cites “people with knowledge of the matter” as its source. Originally expected to launch on February 24, 2024, the thinking now is that the major Destiny 2 paid DLC will launch sometime in June – around four months later than initially planned. The Final Shape will mark year 7 of the live-service game’s lifecycle, finally bringing the ‘Light and Darkness’ saga to a close following the release of this year’s Lightfall expansion.
As well as Final Shape’s imminent delay, Bungie being subject to layoffs also calls into question how its upcoming Marathon reboot will be impacted. Though the colourful PvP extraction shooter didn’t receive an official release date back when it was announced at May’s PlayStation Showcase, the same Bloomberg report suggests it won’t see release until 2025. This will surely affect PlayStation’s big push towards live-service content.
Not a sprint
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons has since taken to Twitter to make a statement in a post. “Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” he said. “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”.
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There’s still no indication of exactly how many Bungie employees have been affected by this latest wave of layoffs, but it only takes a glancing look at social media to see the outpouring of support. Honestly, I’m amazed that the Final Shape expansion will only incur a four-month delay according to the Bloomberg report. With the official release date still set for February, though, we should expect a revision announced either by PlayStation or Bungie soon.