Former Employees Demand Bungie CEO’s Resignation Following Recent Layoffs

Bungie employees have taken to social media following yesterday’s mass layoff announcement by CEO Pete Parsons to call for the CEO’s resignation.

Wednesday, Bungie’s CEO Pete Parsons published an open letter to developers and fans on the company’s future following Destiny 2: The Final Shape ‘s release. Then the letter continued with CEO Parsons heading into a familiar line: “I’m sharing with all of you some of the most difficult changes we’ve ever had to make as a studio.” This was followed by the announcement that 220 employees (approximately 17% of the workforce) would be laid off.

A “Generous exit package, including severance, bonus, and health coverage” is also said to be on the table. Former Bungie employees have taken to social media to air out their frustrations, calling for CEO Parsons to resign. The first round of Bungie layoffs happened back in November 2023, employees then claimed to be “blindsided” by the decision, and this time it appears history has repeated itself.

Countless fans and former employees have taken to the X (formerly Twitter) platform to blast CEO Parsons for not keeping his word when Sony acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2021. One post in particular has been getting heated replies more than others. It comes from Pete Parsons’s official X account, and it can be seen below.

User CoolGuyGames commented “Confusing. Pete.” on the general hypocrisy of the scenario before issuing a screenshot of Bungie leadership’s promise before the Sony acquisition to not institute any layoffs after the purchase concludes. Mentioning “absolutely no layoffs” explicitly, hearkening back to the 2021 financial report , which claimed $1.2 billion would be used to retain employees after the Sony purchase was on the books.

Former Community Manager Liana Ruppert issued another statement of an occurrence at Bungie before her layoff (a part of the original layoff group from November 2023) in an X post, stating, “Pete walked right up to us and bragged about a few new EXPENSIVE cars he bought and that we should come to his house and see them. After hearing how we weren’t making enough money”. Ruppert claims Parsons purchases expensive vehicles despite making “difficult changes” at Bungie.

This allegation is compounded by another former employee, Sam Bartley, also posting on X “I’m already listed as “do not work with” and I don’t care anymore. You lied to my face. Straight to it. You also invited me to come see your new cars TWO DAYS before you laid me off. Two. Fucking. Days.” This is concluded with “Leave. Now.”

According to Kotaku , Parsons uses the Bring a Trailer auction website to purchase his new acquisitions to his garage, and his account history can be found here . If the allegations that this account indeed belongs to Parsons, he has purchased $2.3 million in cars since the Sony acquisition concluded. So far, Parsons has not commented yet regarding the ongoing allegations and calls for his resignation.