Bungie CEO sacrifices bonus to prevent layoffs, yet falls short

Bungie’s CEO, Pete Parsons, gave up his annual bonus to try and avoid layoffs, but it wasn’t enough. Bungie’s leaders looked into different options, including cutting executive pay, before they had to let go of 100 employees.

A recent Forbes report by Paul Tassi provides insights into the events leading up to these layoffs, suggesting that video game studio exhausted all alternatives before taking this step. According to Bungie, it seems that layoffs were their last choice, with executives like CEO Pete Parsons willingly giving up their annual bonuses in an attempt to avoid these controversial job cuts.

The Destiny franchise fell short of Bungie’s revenue expectations by approximately 45%, a significant shortfall for a company specializing in live games. This was partly due to the poor reception of Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion, which, combined with existing issues, led to a decrease in the player base and reduced in-game spending.

Currently, Bungie is focusing its efforts on the delayed Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion to regain players and revenue. Approximately 650 people are working on The Final Shape.