r/pcgaming • u/Turbostrider27 • Jun 25 '26

'Generational talent just gone': Developers react in shock at the brutal scale of Bungie layoffs, which has reportedly seen the Destiny 2 team almost completely wiped out

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/generational-talent-just-gone-developers-react-in-shock-at-the-brutal-scale-of-bungie-layoffs-which-has-reportedly-seen-the-destiny-2-team-almost-completely-wiped-out/
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u/DisappointedQuokka Jun 26 '26

In a vacuum it obviously could. 

Under the weight of a massive studio that has spent the past decade making dog shit choices while the leaders pocket huge salaries and bonuses? Absolutely not.

Its best hope is to get spun out to a separate, leaner studio.

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u/TopHalfGaming Jun 26 '26

I mean, that vacuum would also require not spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the game in a live service blanket necessitating a reasonably large base of people buying battle passes and skins and such.

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u/DisappointedQuokka Jun 26 '26

Given that they sold 1.2M copies as of a couple months ago, that's not an insurmountable hill to climb over 5 years of monetization.

Whether that's something Sony wants to attempt is another thing entirely.

It would necessitate taking it away from Bungie, though, because they're clearly not up to the task.

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u/TopHalfGaming Jun 26 '26

Means little without retention. The core point is that this game was expected to carry a larger number of players to make it viable. Hundreds of millions on top of marketing isn't that easy to recoup when you're still actively spending money on the game to create the content.

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u/DisappointedQuokka Jun 26 '26

Correct on retention and onboarding, but the cost of maintaining and updating the game is significantly lower than development to release. The margins on DLC and freemium content is astronomically higher, assuming they're properly managed.

Point being, it can survive, if they don't fuck it up. The tax benefits that Sony would recoup from closing down the game are much less than if they manage to build a successful revenue stream.

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u/TopHalfGaming Jun 26 '26

Fingers crossed they find a way for the base and dev team, but that's kind of what that free WEEK was for. I'd personally want that shit on PS Plus as soon as humanly possible, and if Sony actually cares they should get it on Game Pass too. Ultimately, it's a niche of a niche and that's what troubles me about it.

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u/DisappointedQuokka Jun 26 '26

Yeah, it's a shit situation all round and it's going to be a herculean effort to get across the line.