Game News “You showed me your new cars two days before you were fired.” Destiny developers attack their former CEO and demand his dismissal
The crisis facing the video game industry is worrying. After this CEO’s decision, the fired employees raised their voices and denounced his poor team management.
Hard blow
The last few months have been difficult for the video game industry, especially for its employees. Layoffs and restructuring continue, both in the smallest and the largest structures. Last week, Bungie (the makers of Destiny 2) made massive staff cuts. Jason SchreierThe Sony studio grew from 1,300 to 850 employees. 220 employees were laid off, 155 transferred to Sony and 75 moved to a new development company. Since this news, Bungie employees and former employees have criticized the situation within the company and called for the dismissal of CEO Pete Parsons. According to the latter, these dismissals are explained by the fact that “rising development costs and changes in the industry“, a statement that no longer appeals to former workers, including Sam Bartley.
Coward.
You did this. You chose this.
I’m already on the do not work list and I don’t care. You lied to my face. Straight to my face. You also invited me to look at your new cars TWO DAYS before you fired me. Two. Damn. Days.
Leave now. pic.twitter.com/nWVGgWXH8J
– Sam 🖤 (@TheSamBartley) July 31, 2024
Sam BartleyThe subsidiary’s former community manager was laid off in 2023 along with 100 other employees. In a post on X – formerly Twitter – she expressed her incomprehension and anger towards the CEO. Bartley does not hesitate to define it as “coward“When she realizes her Twitter account has become private.”
A CEO criticized
Although Sam Bartley took the liberty of commenting on this wave of layoffs, other employees and the Destiny 2 community are outraged by Pete Parsons’ decisions. Dylan Gafner, Global Community Manager of Destiny 2, calls this choice “inexcusable” and added: “Once again talent has been lost“. Former social media director Griffin Bennett also commented on X, calling the CEO “Joke“. Even more surprising is the content creator MyNameIsByf – with more than a million subscribers – emphasizes that Pete Parsons is solely responsible for these disastrous decisions.
This general anger is just the result of a worrying context at Bungie. In December, several employees raised the alarm by describing a worrying work climate following a cost-cutting measure that disregarded employee welfare (in the past, management had refused to accept wage cuts and was unwilling to lay off its workers). Pete Parsons has not yet responded to these denunciations and Internet users took the liberty of disclosing the CEO’s expenses since the end of 2022. He would have bought cars for a total of more than $2.4 million.
