Destiny 2 studio Bungie could reportedly lose its independence under Sony if it fails to meet certain financial goals.
Per IGN, the late-October layoffs at Bungie were part of cost-cutting measures taken to avoid a total takeover by Sony, which bought the studio early last year for $3.6 billion. Even after the layoffs, several current and former Bungie employees were reportedly present at a department meeting in which they were told the board would be at risk of dissolution if Bungie falls short of its revenue goals.
IGN reports Bungie is still technically considered, at least as far as its contract is concerned, a fully independent subsidiary of Sony. Its board of directors currently consists of PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst, Sony senior VP Eric Lempel, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones, Bungie CTO Luis Villegas, and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, who has the power to cast tie-breaking votes.
Though Sony execs have a good share of control over the board, the majority is currently controlled by Bungie representatives. However, that split structure of the board has reportedly been contingent on the studio reaching financial results, and that's at least partially why Bungie leadership decided to layoff more than 100 employees in October - an attempt to improve revenue figures to stave off the point at which Sony would be legally able to dissolve the board and assume full control of Bungie.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape, the conclusion to the MMO's 10-year Light and Darkness saga, was recently confirmed to have been delayed to June 2024. The developer admitted last month that it had "lost a lot of your trust" amid poor reception to the Lightfall expansion and promised a "bigger, bolder, brighter vision for The Final Shape" as well as a path to "take us all out of this Darkness and into the Light."
Under threat of more layoffs and possible loss of creative control, suddenly that promise takes on a whole new, and decidedly more existential, connotation.
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