Bungie flop

Good Morning. Hopefully, those of you from the 37 countries that celebrate Halloween managed some rest and avoided the sugar hangovers.

Just in case, we’ll be brief today.

— Derek Neville, Jason Liu, Tim Rhyne

MAIN QUEST:

Bungie, the studio behind the Destiny franchise, recently laid off around 100 employees — about 8% of its total workforce. The layoffs reportedly follow a meeting weeks prior in which Bungie executives said revenue was 45% lower than anticipated, pointing at the recent and poorly received Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall and its impact on player retention as part of the issue.

In an internal company meeting following the layoffs, CEO Pete Parsons told the remaining employees that Bungie “kept the right people” to continue working on Destiny 2. The layoffs have been confirmed to be a Bungie decision and was not a directive from parent company Sony.

Players will also feel the impact of the layoffs, as Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion The Final Shape has now been pushed back to June 2024, and the new PVP-extraction game, Marathon, will be delayed to 2025.

Step back: While 2023 has been a historic year for gaming with massive releases, the industry has also seen waves of layoffs and studio closures. Employees at Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red unionized last month, with recent layoffs both internally and across the industry being a driving force. We are now seeing increasing convergence between the gaming industry and Hollywood.

HUD

• 🕹️ Atari has acquired Digital Eclipse, a studio known for digitally restoring retro titles. Atari plans to expand its internal development capabilities and use Digitial Excplise’s technology to support its retro-focused growth strategy.

• 🤝 Azerion and Huawei have announced a strategic partnership aimed at bringing a casual gaming experience to users of the Huawei Browser in Europe.

• 🏆 After a shaky first few hours, The Finals open beta has been a hit, with the game moving to the top of Steam’s “Top Wishlists” list. The game has also been part of some recent controversy around its use of AI voices, and an issue at the front of the SAG-AFTRA negotiations with game companies.

MAJOR W

• 📦 Those looking to snag Modern Warfare 3 and the new PS5 Slim can cross both off their list with one stop. Sony announced a PS5 slim bundle going on sale on November 10th that includes a free copy of MW3.

• 🎼 The Baldur’s Gate 3 soundtrack will be performed live by the Philharmonia Orchestra in London on May 4th, 2024. The event also includes a performance of The Last of Us soundtrack.

• 🔑 A year after Modern Warfare 2’s release date, companies are finally getting access to the CoD API again. This API serves as a key part of several third-party business models ranging from stat-tracking sites to tournament providers.

F IN THE CHAT

• 📺️ Twitch is removing its app from the Nintendo Switch. It will delist on November 6th and then become fully unavailable to existing users on January 31st, 2024.

• 🕯️ Ubisoft announced it is turning off online support for 10 of its older titles on 25 January 2024.

CAREER CORNER

• Communications Manager Nordics — Ubisoft (Remote, Demark)

• Lead Gameplay Designer — Manticore Games (San Mateo, CA)

• Sr. Visual Designer — Krafton (Santa Monica, CA)

HIVE MIND

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