The tech industry is witnessing a high tide of layoffs since 2022, and even now, the trend seems to be incessant. Recently, the video game company, Bungie, has hit with another round of layoffs. In a move that echoes the industry-wide trend of layoffs, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons revealed that the company will be reducing its workforce by 17 per cent, cutting 220 jobs. The increased development expenses and unfavourable economic conditions are the primary reasons for this layoff round, he said.
Parsons also mentioned that Bungie is working to reassign 155 more employees to other departments within Sony Interactive Entertainment. Combined with the 100 layoffs that occurred last October, Bungie has reduced its workforce by roughly 40 per cent over the past year. Before the layoffs, the company had approximately 1,200 employees, and these layoffs were prompted by a delay in the launch of the Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion.
Parsons provided insight into the situation, explaining that Bungie expanded too rapidly and stretched its leadership team too thin across its numerous projects. This had a ripple effect on the studio’s well-known projects, leading to what Parsons described as a “quality miss” with the Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion and causing a delay in the release of their upcoming game, Marathon.
In a press release, Parsons said Wednesday’s layoffs were a “necessary decision to refocus our studio.” In the same release, he also informed that the company is working on a new Playstation Studios. He wrote, “We are working with PlayStation Studios leadership to spin out one of our incubation projects – an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe – to form a new studio within PlayStation Studios to continue its promising development.”
Tech layoffs in 2024
According to data from Layoffs.fyi, a staggering 98,834 employees have already been let go by 337 tech companies in the first half of this year alone. Companies are keeping their constant focus on reducing operational costs, leading to further job cuts. While the fear of getting sacked is already stressing out IT employees, a new and more insidious trend is growing – silent layoffs.
According to a report by Moneycontrol, the Indian IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is increasingly resorting to this practice, which involves subtly pressuring employees to leave without making it public. The All India IT & ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU) revealed that approximately 20,000 technology professionals were affected by such unannounced layoffs in 2023, with the actual numbers suspected to be even higher.
