In Destiny 2, there were layoffs as early as November 2023 due to the poor performance of Destiny 2: Lightfall. At that time, the question arose as to whether the bosses had considered giving up part of their salaries to prevent the layoffs. This was denied. Now even more employees have been let go and the CEO is being criticized for his expenses.
That was the demand:
- In November 2023, Destiny had to lay off about 100 employees. As IGN reports, this was critically discussed internally at the company. There were apparently “question and answer” sessions after the layoffs, seemingly to relieve some pressure.
- During the Q&A session, the head of a department reportedly asked whether the leadership had considered giving up part of their salaries to avoid layoffs.
- From Bungie came the answer: “We are not that kind of company”; as reported.
The weak Lightfall was blamed for the layoffs, while the 2024 expansion “The Final Shape” was received much better. Still, even more employees had to be laid off:
Bungie CEO spent $2.4 million on cars and motorcycles
This is the aftermath: On July 31, further layoffs were announced, this time on a much larger scale. These layoffs were announced by Bungie CEO Pete Parsons. They tried everything to avoid the layoffs, but they were necessary.
Now the topic is being raised again that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, seen as the face of the crisis, is obviously living very comfortably while many of his employees have been laid off.
Parsons’ account was found on the website “Bring A Trailer“. There, an account named “bngpparsons” bought a total of 25 “classic” cars and motorcycles and spent a total of $2,141,550, which is nearly 2 million euros.
Among other things, he treated himself to a 1971 Porsche 911S Coupe for $201,000, just 3 weeks after the layoff wave in 2023. The auction was apparently highly competitive – 23 bids drove the price up.
In a comment, Parsons wrote:
“That was fun. I spent more than I wanted. But I love the green!”
In a second comment, he mentions that these cars are his personal passion. He would also like to give tours to disadvantaged children.
With the purchase, he probably didn’t make a bargain. According to the site PWK.de , the 1971 Porsche 911 Coupe lost about 5.12% of its market value last year. Today, the car would still average about 121,000 €.
How is this perceived? Parsons seems to have had a good time with the sale of the company to Sony. For his employees, however, this now appears as pure mockery. From their perspective, they financed this decadent hobby with their work.
An angry user from X says: “People are supporting the CEO’s hobbies so he can buy himself a new rare car every 60 days before being kicked out.”
CEO made a strategic mistake, launched too many new games too early
What was Parsons’ mistake? Parsons had already stated in an interview in 2020 that they have been developing “new games” at Bungie since 2017. The goal was to become a leading global entertainment company by 2025.
However, with the current projects, they went overboard, got sidetracked, incurred losses, and had to now halt all projects except for Destiny and Marathon.
The mood among the Destiny 2 employees is currently tense. Many of the employees who were fired in 2023 and 2024 feel they fulfilled their duties and did good work. The failure clearly lies in leadership. Strong words of criticism are being voiced: Laid-off Destiny 2 employees demand that the CEO resign: “You are a liar and a thief”
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