Sigh. When it looked like the worst industry-wide redundancies were behind us, Bungie decided that one round of layoffs wasn’t enough. Despite an initial cost-cutting exercise in October 2023, the studio decimated its ranks by a further 17% this past week. Nothing I write here will be unique; it’s all been said a thousand times. But that doesn’t change our disappointment and anger whenever a new statement about a “difficult” decision breaks. As always, I feel for the developers impacted. Imagine watching your colleagues get the axe In October and being told it was “all hands on deck” to deliver …
Tag: Destiny
Excising the Easter Egg: What Can Black Ops 6 Zombies Learn From Destiny 2?
Bungie delivered. The Final Shape was a worthy conclusion to Destiny’s Light and Dark saga, more than living up to the ten-year build. It continued the hot streak of campaign expansions in Destiny that started with The Witch Queen (despite notable issues with Lightfall’s story, I thought the campaign was full of remarkable encounters and memorable set pieces) and provided an emotional and earned climax. The positive reception was anything but a foregone conclusion. Bungie has taken quite the beating since the poor reception of Lightfall. Missed internal development targets resulted in The Final Shape suffering from a delay, with …
Destiny: Where Does My Guardian Fit in The Final Shape?
The Final Shape approaches. Guardians across the system will take the fight to The Witness, fight side-by-side with old friend Cayde-6, and mix up their builds with the new Prismatic subclass. Like many Destiny players, I’m starting to feel nostalgic over my journey amongst the stars, though it started more recently than most guardians. I’d tried and failed multiple times to get into Destiny, but my guardian’s time finally arrived in the Summer of 2022. Modern Warfare II had, quite frankly, pissed me off. The launch of COD HQ was a disaster, and Infinity Ward had made many unnecessary changes …
This Week at Bungie: Fire, Everywhere
It’s been a red-letter week for Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2, with almost 10% of its staff made redundant, reports of the live service game missing financial and player retention targets by large numbers – 45% below projected revenue – and the all-but-confirmed delay to the next Destiny expansion, ‘The Final Shape’. Players have been unhappy with the direction the game has been heading since the release of Lightfall in February, and the fears for the future are only growing following the reports (that are still) coming out of Bungie. As someone who was a very late adopter of …