Game News 2.0

Of all the productions deserving some delay leeway (and most developers deserve leeway), STALKER 2 deserves it even more than most. They’ve been dealing with an actual war / invasion while trying to get the game over the line.

I have my reservations about the game given some fairly reserved previews and red flags around its production from before the whole invasion of Ukraine. But I will not for a second begrudge them any extra time they need to finish up given what the team has had to deal with over the past two years.

Very grim news from Sony-owned Bungie that they're laying off nearly a fifth of their workforce in one go - 220 more people without jobs. That's the bleak headline, but over 150 other jobs seem to be transferring over to Sony, and an unannounced project being spun off to a new studio.

What a depressing industry this is, especially since this follows what appears to have been a successful and well-regarded Destiny expansion. The inevitable talent drain from the industry over the last two years is something we'll never be able to fully comprehend.

Looking through the responses to the news and there's definitely a sense of growing anger at Bungie CEO Pete Parsons for what's happening at the studio.

Some staff also venting their frustrations publicly:

Lots of details also emerging - including from former employees - about Parsons' spending habits, including building a $2 million vintage car collection and allegedly bragging to employees (some of whom were laid off shortly after) about it.

While no doubt many smaller studios are feeling a genuine financial crunch at the moment, the sickening thing is that many wealthy executives of these bigger studios are still extremely wealthy and rarely have to answer for their mismanagement.

https://www.eurogamer.net/bungie-ceo-criticised-for-spending-millions-on-classic-cars-as-calls-for-leadership-changes-escalate