Following information of yesterday’s layoffs at Bungie, CEO Pete Parsons has confronted criticised from employees for spending hundreds of thousands on basic automobiles for the reason that studio was bought by Sony in 2022 and bragging about his lavish assortment, as the corporate headed in the direction of this week’s newest brutal spherical of job losses.
Workers – a few of whom are actually unemployed – have shared hyperlinks to an array of basic automobiles bought by way of the Carry a Trailer web site, with Parsons profile public and itemizing an unlimited variety of public sale wins. The earliest was in September 2022 costing $34,000; the latest was 1st June this yr costing $91,500, only a month earlier than these newest layoffs. “How thrilling!” wrote Parsons in a remark. “I’ve wished a c1 since I used to be somewhat child. My second scorching wheel ever (in gold). Going to its endlessly dwelling.”
Parsons spent $79,000 on a car in October 2023 simply forward of the earlier layoffs, adopted by three extra purchases over the rest of the yr – together with a Porsche costing over $200k. In complete, Parsons seems to have spent $2,414,550 on automobiles.
Sony bought Bungie in 2022 for $3.6bn. Whereas it is unclear how a lot Parsons has earned for the reason that buyout, it could seem Bungie’s senior management has not taken wage cuts whereas over the previous 9 months virtually 1 / 4 of the workforce has been laid off.
In a report from IGN final December following layoffs at Bungie, staff requested a division head throughout a post-layoffs Q&A if management can be taking wage cuts, to which the response was Bungie was “not that sort of firm”.
Parsons described yesterday’s layoffs as “among the most troublesome adjustments we have ever needed to make as a studio” in a weblog publish, citing the rising prices of growth, business shifts, and “enduring financial circumstances” as key causes for the cutbacks.
The response to the layoffs on-line has been largely anger, with Future 2‘s world neighborhood lead Dylan Gafner particularly calling the layoffs “inexcusable”.
Parsons’ Carry a Trailer account was noticed and shared on-line following the information, with many calling for the CEO to step down.
Former Future 2 neighborhood supervisor Liana Ruppert shared a narrative on social media of struggling to search out cash for groceries whereas working at Bungie, whereas Parsons “bragged about just a few new costly automobiles he purchased and that we must always come to his home and see them.”
Ruppert continued: “And I’ve not stopped digging since October. There’s a lot extra to this that will not come out for just a few extra years to guard folks, however I simply need to say this: This falls squarely on management.”
One other former worker referred to as out Parsons as a “coward” for setting his social media to personal, including: “You lied to my face. Straight to it. You additionally invited me to return see your new automobiles two days earlier than you laid me off.” Parsons has since made his account public as soon as extra.
Future 2 YouTuber MyNameIsByf additionally referred to as out management. “They have been reckless with the studio, its staff, and its franchises,” he posted. “The issue is obvious. Unhealthy management. It wants to alter.”
Future 2’s most up-to-date growth, The Last Form, has acquired reward from critics and gamers. “Bungie sticks the touchdown because it lastly brings collectively the threads of its epic first saga,” reads our Eurogamer The Last Form overview. It appears even this success was not sufficient to stop layoffs.
