Bungie leadership assures employees Sony deal will not result in layoffs, restructuring

Though Bungie employees said leadership has assured them there will be “absolutely no layoffs” and nothing “major” in terms of restructuring once the Sony deal closes, the acquisition represents a notable shift for the Washington-based game developers. For roughly the last 15 years, Bungie’s business dealings have been marked by repeated pushes to regain independence, an anomaly in the video game industry. After being purchased by Microsoft in 2000, the game developer birthed the “Halo” franchise before splitting from the tech titan in 2007. In 2019, Bungie reached an agreement with its partner in a publishing deal since 2010, Activision Blizzard, to regain control of publishing rights to its “Destiny” series. For a studio that’s striven to maintain creative freedom even while creating big-budget video games, the Sony buyout is a surprising turn — albeit one firmly in step with the industry’s pivot toward consolidation, as best exemplified by Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in January.