Bungie has an enormous workplace headquartered within the very costly actual property market of Bellevue, Washington. It greater than doubled its measurement again in 2021, a move born of Destiny 2‘s ongoing success throughout the pandemic, which is tough now to not interpret as an indication of hubris and mismanagement. The PlayStation-owned studio now says it’s exploring subleasing large sections of the house it not wants following years of mass layoffs amid its video games’ declining fortunes.
“Bungie is exploring choices to sublease its campus in Bellevue, Washington,” a spokesperson told The Game Post, which initially broke the story. “The studio transitioned to a digital-first mannequin a number of years in the past, and this transfer displays the workforce’s evolving office wants and the effectiveness of its distant collaboration. Bungie will proceed to keep up a bodily workplace presence in Bellevue.”
The descriptions of Bungie’s HQ sound each state-of-the-art and luminous. It included a devoted exercise house, climbing wall, and playtest areas. The Recreation Put up studies {that a} brochure buying the subleases round additionally mentions a movement seize studio, streaming studio, audio and Foley rooms (specialised sound recording areas), seize services, and modifying suites.
The enlargement was initially introduced by Bungie as a part of its large push to double down on Destiny 2‘s success and costly content material pipeline, whereas additionally investing in initiatives past its hit sci-fi shooter. Right here’s what the press launch said at the time:
Along with constructing state-of-the-art services to help the expansion and improvement of their gifted staff, one of many major drivers of Bungie’s enlargement is to extend the dedication to the long-term improvement of Future 2, inform new tales within the Future Universe, and create solely new worlds in to-be-announced IPs. The brand new facility will embrace a reimagining of its Bellevue, WA-based studio house to help a number of venture groups, together with these outdoors of the Future Universe.
From extra to layoffs
Sony bought Bungie for $3.6 billion the following winter. 4 years later, none of those bets have paid off. Future by no means branched out into being a trans-media money-maker. All however one of many non-Future initiatives being incubated were canceled (a venture known as Gummy Bears specializing in “frog-like motion was moved inside PlayStation). Sony even determined to formally sundown Future 2. All that’s left for the time being is Marathon, a terrific extraction shooter that appears doomed.
Throughout its pandemic-era peak, Bungie had over 1,500 folks. Successive rounds of mass layoffs in 2023, 2024, and 2026 minimize that determine by no less than 600 folks, not accounting for normal attrition and roles that Sony shifted to completely different components of the PlayStation umbrella. It now seems like Bungie is nearer to a 500-person studio.
It’s additionally a “digital first” office that accommodates distant work, a wise play for attracting high expertise and avoiding the exorbitant prices of hiring solely within the higher Seattle space. But additionally perhaps one thing that may have been sensible to consider earlier than launching an enormous enlargement of the studio’s brick-and-mortar HQ.
Hi, I’m Rishab. I’m a passionate pc gamer and an avid video game content writer. I have been involved with video games for over 2 decades now, and even today, after playing an astronomical number of games over the years, I’m still eager for more. In my free time, you will find me enjoying a hot cup of coffee and playing my favorite relaxing fishing game, Dave the Diver.
