Former Bungie developers are speaking out about the problems Bungie is facing internally, and all signs point to leadership and structural issues following Sony's acquisition of Bungie, and a human resources department, or at least, a single member of that department, covering up internal issues of harassment for personal gain on their exit from the studio. Internal issues at Bungie, unfortunately, aren't anything new, but this latest slew of details comes from Destin Legarie, who published a video on his YouTube channel after speaking to former Bungie developers. Many of the comments are quite damning, and paint the picture of a Bungie that is not the same studio it once was when every first-person shooter fan on the planet couldn't wait to see what they would do next. No direct names were mentioned in the video as to who the former Bungie employees were calling out, everything was kept in more general terms with just the word 'leadership' being used to represent Bungie's top brass. All of this came about after Bungie was caught using artwork and/or art assets from another artist without their permission or crediting them for the fourth time in recent years. "Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed," a former Bungie developer told Legarie. Another quote went further, saying "Bungie's problem stem from a lack of player empathy, disconnected leadership, and a corporate-first culture." Another quote reads "Internal language shifted from 'studio,' 'games,' and 'players,' to 'company,' 'product,' and 'customers,' during the Sony acquisition," highlighting how the studio has seemingly shifted its viewpoint that making good games for players to enjoy is no longer the ultimate goal, and is instead making games that make as much money as possible. There have been negative stories about internal problems at the Destiny 2 developer for the past couple of years, and morale certainly can't be helped by the layoffs the studio has suffered. All of leadership might be part of the problem, which is what seems to be the speculation in this video, but as Legarie points out, the buck has to stop somewhere, and in the case of Bungie, that's with chief executive officer Pete Parsons. It's extremely unfortunate that the studio behind Halo and Destiny, two of the biggest shooter franchises in video game history, is facing all of this, and could see its end due to its allegedly greedy and inconsiderate leaders who have lost the plot, and the fact that if not for the studio making games that people wanted to play in the first place, none of them would be where they are. Deal of the Day

Praedyth Member Feb 25, 2020 8,614 Brazil I'm not surprised at any of those quotes. The Eververse one is just confirmation of what skeptical players always knew.  Johnny Blaze Avenger Oct 29, 2017 4,886 DE Sony will just do a full takeover once Marathon flops, I guess they cant stop them from making it in the first place due to how the acquisition contract is stipulated? Probably for the best.  Audiblee Member Mar 14, 2025 1,567 I remember Luke saying we'd be throwing money at the screen to get their pay-only garbage. I still enjoyed Destiny at that time despite the grossness. My tolerance for their shitty behavior waned though as they made the game more and more mediocre.   SolidSnakeUS Member Oct 25, 2017 12,097 Johnny Blaze said: Sony will just do a full takeover once Marathon flops, I guess they cant stop them from making it in the first place due to how the acquisition contract is stipulated? Probably for the best. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I think Sony fully takes over before the release and delays it. I think they put too much into it to let it just flop like Concord. Better to make it delayed and come back better and fixed later.  Ringten Member Nov 15, 2017 6,456 What's happening at Bungie? Isn't destiny doing well for them? Or is it that YoY growth isn't like they wanted? Also funky how PS studios went from consulting Bungie (and ND cancelled TLOU online) to this lol  JohnnyToonami Member Dec 16, 2018 6,239 Earth Sony needs to just ditch them whenever they can. Bungies been on the decline since Destiny 1. Still can't believe Sony trusted Bungies opinion on TLOU Online.  Dazka Member Oct 30, 2024 74 Sony needs to fully take them over, shouldn't have bought into Pete Parsons BS from the beginning and just took control of it. Would have had better products (potentially, though Final Shape was fantastic) and more oversight into how the execs direct things. Its too late for Marathon I believe but Sony intervention in getting rid of the bad parties is desperately needed.   bitcloudrzr Member May 31, 2018 20,754 Ringten said: What's happening at Bungie? Isn't destiny doing well for them? Or is it that YoY growth isn't like they wanted? Also funky how PS studios went from consulting Bungie (and ND cancelled TLOU online) to this lol Click to expand... Click to shrink... There seems to be excitement around the new expansions, but apparently senior leadership has been a problem for a long time.   Supreme Leader Galahad ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 27, 2017 2,892 Brazil Johnny Blaze said: Sony will just do a full takeover once Marathon flops, I guess they cant stop them from making it in the first place due to how the acquisition contract is stipulated? Probably for the best. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Sony just needs to wipe the leadership and greenlight Destiny 3 and rework Marathon slowly, it can be salvaged, FFXIV and NMS showed that with patience any game with a good base can turn around, Bungie gunplay will carry the game, get some studios like Bend and Bluepoint that have no active projects to support them like the Activision days.   J-Skee The Wise Ones Member Oct 25, 2017 13,297 Shout out to Parsons.   RoboPlato Member Oct 25, 2017 8,394 Bungie has industry-worst leadership. Their teams are remarkably talented but are at the whims of a ridiculously overpaid exec board that doesn't remotely value the devs' work or well-being   Jroc Member Jun 9, 2018 8,234 I wonder if Sony would ever consider divesting like Activision did   Bardeh Member Jun 15, 2018 3,841 Ringten said: What's happening at Bungie? Isn't destiny doing well for them? Or is it that YoY growth isn't like they wanted? Also funky how PS studios went from consulting Bungie (and ND cancelled TLOU online) to this lol Click to expand... Click to shrink... Destiny is still popular, but growth is stagnant (I'm surmising, but the onboarding/new player experience is absolutely awful so I can't imagine they're attracting much new blood). They're also a large and bloated studio that must cost a lot to run. Marathon has a large team and has been in development for a long time, so there's a lot of cash sunk into it already and a lot riding on it doing well. 

Sony’s $699.99 PS5 Pro could get especially expensive if prices go up. Sony just announced its financial forecast for the next year, and it’s expecting to be impacted by tariffs to the tune of 100 billion yen (about $680 million). To compensate, the company says it’s considering options including moving manufacturing to the US and increasing prices for consumers. Speaking to investors during the company’s earnings call, Sony CFO Lin Tao confirmed that the company is considering “passing on” the price of tariffs to consumers in order to mitigate the impact on its bottom line. Tao didn’t mention the PS5 by name though, and it’s possible that Sony could try to protect pricing on its console through increases elsewhere in its electronics business. Sony has already increased the price of the PS5 this year, but only in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The PS5 did get a call out from CEO Hiroki Totoki when discussing the possibility of moving manufacturing to the US to avoid the brunt of Donald Trump’s tariffs. He admitted that the console “can be produced locally,” and that it would be “an efficient strategy” that “has to be considered going forward.” As expected Sony is considering passing along the tarrif impact by increasing the price of their products. So it's assumed the PS5 price could be impacted. pic.twitter.com/a7nR1BZ9Rv— Destin (@DestinLegarie) May 14, 2025 Over the 12 months ending in March, Sony shipped 18.5 million PS5 consoles — down slightly from 20.8 million the year before — bringing its lifetime shipments to 77.7 million. Sony still manufactures the majority of its PS5 hardware in China, and so its gaming business is especially at risk right now. Even after the 90-day pause and reduction in rates announced this week, the 30 percent tariff on imports into the US from China is substantially higher than the 10 percent rate levied on other countries, and games consoles were not included in the exemptions for select other electronics. Microsoft has already raised the price of its Xbox consoles by up to $100, though Nintendo has so far elected to keep Switch 2 pricing the same ahead of its launch next month. We may learn more about Sony’s pricing plans going forward when it announces the flagship WH-1000XM6 headphones tomorrow, which succeed the $399 XM5s.