It sure stuck in my craw so it probably is going to be for me at least. :)
In the case of Destiny, we’re talking about a game that sells $50 expansions with four seasons/battle passes through the year each selling for $10 (now $12) a pop. Google tells me they have something like 1,500 employees. Even if that’s not accurate, the point is it’s a large studio backed by Sony. And they seriously come out and tell the playerbase that they can’t do more than a map a year? After previously going 950 days without a single new one, per the article?
I don’t play Destiny 2 but it doesn’t seem surprising that didn’t go over well, especially if PVP is what your primary mode of play.
I recently started getting back into Destiny and am catching up after missing the past couple of years.
I thought Witch Queen was solid, but Lightfall is so horrifically WTF I’m like wondering what was going on over at Bungie. The tone and look of it is so bizarre. It’s supposed to be the penultimate chapter before the finale, and it’s nothing but surfer bros and this boring, neon-lit advanced city on Neptune that we never heard of before.
They’ve also gotten to the point of nickel-and-diming the userbase to hell.
So I’m not surprised to read this. It looks like the userbase had enough.
This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our studio’s history, as we’ve parted ways with people we respect and admire. We’ve spent this week supporting one another, including those who are at the studio, as well as friends and colleagues who no longer are.
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.
Management said other levers were looked at to avoid layoffs. When employees asked if one lever was executive compensation, they were told no, and that it would not happen at the company. (Update: Post-publication, Bungie responded saying that CEO Pete Parsons and some other executives previously forfeited annual bonuses before the layoffs. But staff was not informed this happened until yesterday. The sum total of the bonuses given up is not clear).
Some employees were told that if the Sony buyout did not happen, that with current Destiny 2 performance the studio itself would have been in jeopardy if they were still independent.
