Summary
It has not been an enjoyable couple of years forBungie, the once-beloved developers of Halo and Destiny.
Aseries of layoffs, reports of underwhelming Marathon playtests, anda lawsuit involving the alleged misconduct of Marathon director Christoper Barrettdogged Bungie throughout 2024.
This week, the studio stumbled into another controversy. Bungie was accused of including plagiarised assets in Marathon, stolen from an independent artist unaffiliated with the studio. Theseaccusations proved true, with Bungie blaming a former artist and committing to a full audit to ensure there is no other plagiarised art present in Marathon.
Forbesreported that morale is in “free fall” and “the vibes have never been worse” ahead of the release of Marathon. The success of Marathon is crucial for Bungie, which can’t afford a flop.
Free Fall
Quotes from former Bungie employees gathered byDestin Legariehave provided additional context on the current mood at Bungie.
“I hope they get consolidated into Sony, that’s the path forward,” says one employee. This approach seems inevitable, as several teams at Bungie have already been “integrated” into Sony. Sony will likely continue to get more hands-on with Bungie if the studio continues to face successive controversies.
One former employee claimed leadership was “toxic, and shut down creatives at a core level.” They suggest that leadership wasn’t interested in ideas that didn’t come from the executive level.
These ideas were as revolutionary as you can imagine. At one point, Bungie’s executives reportedly pitched a paid subscription service for Destiny. The idea never came to fruition because the game’s developers “vehemently” opposed it.
An executive reportedly almost cancelled earnable cosmetics in Destiny 2 because they feared giving players things for free would damage revenue from microtransaction sales.
“Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed,” an ex-employee told Legarie. The internal language used within the studio reportedly shifted following Sony’s acquisition of the studio, from players and games to sales and products.
It’s increasingly clear that Bungie’s future is completely hinged on the success of Marathon. Anything less than a tremendous success could see a full consolidation of the studio into Sony.
