‘You Did This:’ Bungie Employees React To Massive Layoffs at Company

On July 31, Bungie announced that it was laying off 220 employees — roughly 17 percent of its workforce — effective immediately due to “rising costs of development and industry shifts,” and now current and former employees of the company are reacting to the news.

X user @TimeSpacCos announced they were among those affected, writing, “I’m affected. I’m so sick and tired of these layoffs. Unionize unionize unionize.”

@BeauOckers wrote, “I didn’t even tweet that I got promoted last month, but now I get to tweet that I got laid off, so there’s that. gonna miss my team.”

Tzvi Sherman wrote, in response to Bungie’s tweet about the layoffs, “This is how I’ve found out I’m laid off.”

Various current employees at Bungie are also raising awareness of the layoffs and what happened. X user @A_dmg04, who is a Global Community Lead for the company, wrote, “Inexcusable. Industry leading talent being lost, yet again. Accountability falling upon the workers who have pushed the needle to deliver for our community time and time again.”

Drew Tucker, lead of the Player Support Team for Destiny 2, posted a long thread about just how rough the last seven months have been at the company following a previous round of layoffs. “The fear and sadness we all felt for each other still hurts,” he wrote on X. “My manager Jason was the only way to stay calm and tell us that everything would be okay. He was even smiling as we said our goodbyes”

While Sam Bartley was released during a previous round of Bungie Layoffs, they weren’t quiet when it came to putting the current Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons, on blast, saying on X, “You did this. You chose this. I’m already listed as ‘do not work with’ and I don’t care anymore. You lied to my face. Straight to it. You also invited me to come see your new cars TWO DAYS before you laid me off. Two. F**king. Days. Leave. Now.

While the story is unconfirmed, Bartley claims that Parsons had invited her to view new vehicles he had purchased two days before a different round of layoffs in October 2023. Other employees, such as Liana Ruppert, backed up these claims.

At the time of this article’s publication, Parsons has gone private on X. While it is currently unclear who was fully affected by these layoffs, the sheer number of talented individuals laid off deserved better.

You can read the full statement put out by Parsons and Bungie here.