So they have lots of job opportunities with way lower compensation and a potential pool of people who are "lucky"to even have a job.
People in the industry are getting played in the great reshuffle.
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People in the industry are getting played in the great reshuffle.
I mean, in the corporate world, I can imagine the owner (Sony) requiring one of their subsidiaries (Bungie) to cut costs by x%, and that it's up to the subsidiary to find a way to do that.
Pretty much. The gaming industry has such an astronomically high rate of burnout, and the number of non-C-suite people who make it more than five years in a development or creative role is staggeringly low. The industry just chews people up and then spits them out the moment they should be able to progress to a higher salary tier. And there's NOWHERE for those people to go, because publishers will always push hiring unproven talent they can pay less over bringing in established talent that would cost more but produce higher quality work.
it's impossible to know from outside, but considering that Bungie has freed itself from bigger companies _twice_ I assume they structured the acquisition so that Bungie is still a company with shares and stuff, just that Sony owns a bunch of it, and didn't just get absorbed into Sony and became just another label inside a big company
Fuck Bungie's leadership for this. Disgusting how they treat their people.
Important to keep in mind that Bungie was never owned by Activision the way they were owned by Microsoft or now Sony. They just had a publishing deal with them.
who's going to confirm this...? Bungie isn't going to come out and say yea
Usually it goes back in the "pool" for it to be offered to the next sucker hired who thinks they'll make it the 4 years.
The additional point makes it sound like he's just speculating.
Yeah we were talking about the healthcare issue last night in the DestinyEra discord. So fucked up. God I hate US healthcare.
How would you even confirm it? Bungie isn't gonna make a statement. Paul is close with a lot of Bungie folks. So I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
I know that's the case for independent companies, private or public, but Bungie is a wholly owned subsidiary of SIE now. There wouldn't be much strategic value of the remaining unvested shares for future new hires I'd think? Especially with the post-purchase share pricing having a set value.
Read the article that points out how the japanese industry is insular and a black box in regards to these thanks to the ingrained crunch culture, and we do know for a fact that not only Nintendo but several japanese studios consistently crunchs or have crunched in the past.
It really goes to show that despite how progressive Bungie may seem on the outside, they're still a company, and like every other company will still treat its employees terribly.
They could cut 100% of the cost by imploding the company, because that sure it what this feels like. This is all too sad and revolting.
Found out about this from a friend yesterday, luckily he is still there.
Layoffs are too often in the industry, that was the biggest reason I left a few years ago...but I came back to a small indie studio. I don't know why though.
Layoffs are too often in the industry, that was the biggest reason I left a few years ago...but I came back to a small indie studio. I don't know why though.
I imagine this pretty much confirms it. From Patrick Wren (Sr. Encounter Designer at Respawn; assuming he has colleagues/friends that were impacted);
View: https://twitter.com/Witdarkstar/status/1719407112844136690
Edit: Under Tassi's original post.
View: https://twitter.com/Witdarkstar/status/1719407112844136690
Edit: Under Tassi's original post.
I did the same - left the industry but came back to a smaller independent start up, got let go within 5 months due to downsizing, then got a contract job in the industry, only for the boss to be abusive, then got another job in the industry only for the boss to change my job title at the last second and ask me to do shit out of scope.
Abuse is rampant because there's always someone willing to come after you and hope it isn't them.
I'm not going to call this evil, because there is true evil in the world.
But this is heartless, greedy, and incredibly scummy.
Fuck Bungie management.
Patrick is married to a previous Bungie employee….
Possibly season of Defiance being her last. So she left before the cuts. But she most likely has friends there still.
It really sucks. I thankfully work in a healthy brazilian indie studio but I also worked for a shitty studio before. As long as there are more professionals on the market than opportunities available, employers will see workers as dispensable. So sorry you had to go through this.
Was digging through reviews of Bungie on Glassdoor and Comparably last night (there's some real doozies in there regarding culture and Parsons himself that were written well before yesterday).
One review mentioned that the Sony shares vested yearly over a 4 year period and total vestment was based on seniority. Bungie seemingly just clawed back a shitload of compensation from deserving employees.
One review mentioned that the Sony shares vested yearly over a 4 year period and total vestment was based on seniority. Bungie seemingly just clawed back a shitload of compensation from deserving employees.
There's were due to redundancies and or restructuring 343 which is why theyre still heavily hiring. Not really in the same breath of them doing this leaving them with one day of benefits.
The whole industry is basically in a massive layoff spree. This is a terrible year for developers. So many people are losing their jobs, and their companies always have some pissant bullshit excuse for why it's "justified". And then once those "reduncancies" are dealt with, they hire lower-cost employees they can bully for a few years before they lay them off too.
Not defending it at all but it would be *more* surprising if the RSUs didnt get reverted to Bungie following layoffs. thats how it works across basically all of tech, your RSUs vest if and only if you are still employed on date X (where usually X is once a year or quarter for 4ish years). often RSUs will continue vesting during the severance period, but thats about it
This just gets worse and worse. Parsons and the board really did a number on Bungie employees.
You see some grimey stuff in this industry, but this is right up there. Imagine thinking your interest in whatever retention program was set up for employees to partake in post merger only to get fired/laid off before you meet the terms. Hoping there's something that'll be done for those that suddenly lost their jobs.
That's not how it works buddy. They're not hiring in the positions they let go lmao
Lay offs happened in every industry this isnt a new thing. Yes it sucks but considering the context of this situation. Its a lot worse. Especially considering they just promised last year that these changes wouldn't be happening
More. Classic lay-off garbage tactics.
View: https://x.com/paultassi/status/1719421275494359273?s=61&t=ibsS0wDgi_2qddo-rUQe1g
View: https://x.com/paultassi/status/1719421275494359273?s=61&t=ibsS0wDgi_2qddo-rUQe1g
This is actually less common than you think. Most employers will accelerate RSUs if you end up laid off or made redundant due to separate business concerns and not issues with performance or behavior. RSUs are more used as a way of making people stay for the duration of the vestment period, since if the employee leaves they won't accelerate RSUs. Situations like what Bungie did burns a lot of bridges at minimum, and at worst opens them up to a lawsuit.
More. Classic lay-off garbage tactics.
View: https://x.com/paultassi/status/1719421275494359273?s=61&t=ibsS0wDgi_2qddo-rUQe1g
Pete Parsons has a lot to answer for.
More. Classic lay-off garbage tactics.
View: https://x.com/paultassi/status/1719421275494359273?s=61&t=ibsS0wDgi_2qddo-rUQe1g
Reminds me of the Twitter employee purge.
Fucking hell. I was about to drop some money on the Eververse, which I only do on rare occasions. This is my number 1 player game by far, so I figured a couple skins wouldn't kill me.
But after this… yeah, this might cancelling the preorder level of bullshittery.
But after this… yeah, this might cancelling the preorder level of bullshittery.
Accelerating the vesting of RSUs for layoffs is definitely not the norm.
Yea it's kind of crazy. I hear some people LOVING capitalism because of the idea that if you don't want to do a certain work then someone else will, and it should technically balance itself out. Totally bananas and I can only assume these people have never been on the bad end of the stick.
I'm absolutely terrified of leaving my company currently even though I'm very "under-paid" (im in tech so.. you know) when compared to my peers. The idea of job hunting in this climate where so many people are desperate and employers are literal ghouls... Uff.
About to have a child and can't risk it.
Best of luck to all those affected and I hope they land somewhere nice.
More. Classic lay-off garbage tactics.
View: https://x.com/paultassi/status/1719421275494359273?s=61&t=ibsS0wDgi_2qddo-rUQe1g
Been following this thread passively, but this upsets me so much, I just had to express that.
Oh MY god.
As someone who would like to work in games someday whose also been burned on the current state of the animation industry, shit is BLEAK.
I believe things'll get better eventually, but man.
I have two and am looking for work pretty much full time. This industry sucks for those that want to work in it.
Yikes. I interviewed with Bungie last month and the role got removed - likely dodged a bullet here.