Bungie has been the center of several controversies lately, and last week, it was accused of using stolen art assets in its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. While Bungie has responded to the accusations--saying that a former artist was responsible and that it was investigating further--there have also been recent allegations that the studio's work culture has become tainted by toxic leadership.
Speaker to former IGN editor Destin Legarie--who now runs the independent games coverage channel Save State Plus--former Bungie employees spoke out about the state of the studio, claiming that leaders were quick to shut down ideas and would publicly berate staff. It's also claimed that Bungie's leadership brought up the idea of adding a subscription service to Destiny, but this idea was strongly rejected by the developers.
Another example of the corporate culture at Bungie was that the studio's management allegedly expressed concerns over armor sets that could be earned in Destiny 2's PvP mode Trials of Osiris, because its design looked too good and could "impact" sales of cosmetic DLC.
"Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed," one of these former employees said to Legarie, while another alleges that Bungie's current problems stem "from a lack of player empathy, disconnected leadership, and a corporate-first culture."
Bungie has faced numerous problems over the years, including mass layoffs following the release of Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion. Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, two senior executives at Bungie, were part of these layoffs, and general sentiment around Marathon has been tepid as its developers ask fans to give the game a chance.
"Marathon could launch as a solid multiplayer shooter that is brimming with potential but thin on content. And in the dog-eat-dog world of multiplayer games, that could be a major issue," Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot's hands-on preview of Marathon.
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Speaker to former IGN editor Destin Legarie--who now runs the independent games coverage channel Save State Plus--former Bungie employees spoke out about the state of the studio, claiming that leaders were quick to shut down ideas and would publicly berate staff. It's also claimed that Bungie's leadership brought up the idea of adding a subscription service to Destiny, but this idea was strongly rejected by the developers.
Another example of the corporate culture at Bungie was that the studio's management allegedly expressed concerns over armor sets that could be earned in Destiny 2's PvP mode Trials of Osiris, because its design looked too good and could "impact" sales of cosmetic DLC.
"Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed," one of these former employees said to Legarie, while another alleges that Bungie's current problems stem "from a lack of player empathy, disconnected leadership, and a corporate-first culture."
Bungie has faced numerous problems over the years, including mass layoffs following the release of Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion. Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, two senior executives at Bungie, were part of these layoffs, and general sentiment around Marathon has been tepid as its developers ask fans to give the game a chance.
"Marathon could launch as a solid multiplayer shooter that is brimming with potential but thin on content. And in the dog-eat-dog world of multiplayer games, that could be a major issue," Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot's hands-on preview of Marathon.
Source