Bungie CEO spends $2.3m on classic cars while sacking 320 workers | This Week in Videogames

Thank you Icogni for sponsoring this video. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SKILLUP at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/ski...
--
Move over, Jay Leno...
#ThisWeekInVideogames #Bungie #Destiny2
--
News collation and run-sheet by Edmond T.
Written and voiced by Ralph P.
Edited by Stuart K and Austin B.
--
If you want to check out .45 Parrabellum Bloodhount (or any other game I profile in the 'Put This On Your Radar segment) you can find a link to it on my Steam Curator page:
store.steampow...
--
If you want to check out the Friends Per Second Podcast, you can find all the links to it here:
linktr.ee/frie...
--
Thanks for taking the time to watch the video. If you'd like to support the channel even more, the best way is through my Patreon: / skillupyt
--
Grab 12% off any SteelSeries peripheral by using offer code SKILLUP at checkout: steelseries.pb...
--
Twitter: Sk... (@skillupyt)
Instagram: www.instagram....

[@SkillUp]

Thank you Icogni for sponsoring this video. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SKILLUP at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/skillup

[@kiros2032]

Would you consider giving a shoutout to Ross Scott's campaign stopkillinggames? Even a 30s second heads up and a link to his latest video could be tremendously helpful.

[@captain_context9991]

To be fair. Spending 2.3 million on classic cars is 1, maybe 2 classic cars.

[@jorgenbjorn]

I also think it's just the sheer amount of indie-games being released that makes it hard to stand out and find an audience. (look up releases on steam year over year). It's so hard to be seen in this market plus people are playing older games. I hope to run into you at Gamescom Kind Regards from Denmark Jørgen

[@KrisRosson]

@@captain_context9991 No it's not. Go to any auction site and do your research before making comments like that.

[@rd-um4sp]

Seconded request: Please give a shoutout to Ross' stopkillinggames. There is a EU citizen initiative that can become law in the EU but it need 1mi signatures. It is a new development. ("Europeans can save gaming!")

[@discountdisco2273]

Wanna know something more vile? Pete Parsons invited a worker to his home to show him his car collections. 2 days before said employee got laid off. That ain't salt, that's fking hydrochloric acid in the wound man.

[@Disasterpeach]

@@discountdisco2273 hilarious

[@yourewrong9028]

@@Chopzi11apretending that that has anything to do with “wokeness” is absurd lmao.

[@512px]

​@@Chopzi11a bro what do you mean woke, this shit happens no matter how "woke" the CEO is, the problem is CEOs. "woke" is absolutely meaningless now, christ

[@x706x]

@@Chopzi11a what does a “woke” CEO have to do with this? This is common trend with almost all companies lately. This is just another example of the companies that claim they need tax cuts to create jobs, tf?!

[@quatreraberbawinner2628]

You jealous?

[@GeremyG]

Pete Parsons was the executive producer of Halo 2. You know, one of the worst development stories in gaming history. Who let him become CEO?

[@dynomar11]

Well Halo 2 made a lot of money, so there's your answer.

[@lukeEmmo]

​@@dynomar11Fucking unreal that he gets to take credit for the developer's success and also shirk blame for his failures

[@googleplaynow9608]

​@@lukeEmmoWhat are you on about? All everyone us saying is for Pete to resign...🤡

[@TsunamiWombat]

last man standing, likely

[@lordxmugen]

SO MANY PEOPLE at Bungie left because of that game. Both a labor of love and race to the finish line all in less than 3 years time.

[@Homerstar]

Pete Parsons: “ok I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that we will be merging with Sony and some of you will lose your jobs. But the good news is I got a new car for my collection, so that’s good. You’re still thinking about the bad news.

[@michaelramon2411]

"Some of you will lose your jobs, but that is a price I am willing to pay."

[@Shaqsquatch]

you all worked hard this year thank you, if work hard again this year ill have 2 new cars

[@russellcarey3568]

But will he fake a blood pressure test?

[@paulszki]

@@michaelramon2411 "I take full responsibility"

[@frankytanky5076]

@@michaelramon2411 The OG line from shrek is still one of the funniest lines ever put in a movie.

[@KoeiNL]

Standard CEO behavior: privatize the profits, socialize the losses.

[@oliverdavis4642]

what does this even mean? privatisation and socialization refers to government spending on public services, this is a private company firing employees. I guess if the buzz phrase sounds good enough you don't think about whether it actually applies to the context

[@blankmage7556]

@@oliverdavis4642 It means when a company does poorly, the ground-floor employees suffer losses. When a company does well, the CEO buys a yacht. Losses apply to everyone, they're 'socialized', while profits are given to the private individual. I hope this helps illustrate the saying.

[@AnymMusic]

@@oliverdavis4642 We'll dumb it down for you since you can't seem to shift the perspective. -record profits thanks to great employees doing their job? CEO gets MASSIVE bonusses, employees get fck all -company is in a rough spot and didn't hit targets? Why of course that means the C-suite keep their salaries and the actual employees get laid off. you as the CEO private the wins.

[@KoeiNL]

@@oliverdavis4642 In this context? If the company does well C-level gets huge bonusses and normal workers don't. If the company does badly, then non C-level is laid off and C-level keeps their big fat package. Its about how profits are mostly benefited by the top level executives, while losses are spread out of the entire organization. But its not every CEO, Saturo Iwata is a notable exception to this for example.

[@Midwestemoisme]

@@oliverdavis4642hey man, ur autism is showing

[@serjobsalot8768]

Honestly, there should be rules about this by now, enforcable by law. If management fucks up so bad - for whatever reason - that they "have to" sack this many people from their company, they need to lose their job or personally be financially held accountable in a proportionate manner. You just can't go around fucking up this many people's lives for no reason and just get away with it.

[@Calladim]

There are already dozens of laws big corporations ignore until they're eventually caught and simply fined as a company, not as individuals. We can't even enforce those laws. More laws won't fix a broken system.

[@genghisj1372]

And we can't enforce these laws because the executors of the laws are corrupt themselves. They are not delivering justice on the right people, because they can gain much more by merely helping their cronies get away with it. A broken system, broken by the people managing it

[@JokerJK-jg1gi]

Github, Azure, AWS and Google Cloud can be accessed just as easily from any third world country, where they probably talk better English than some parts of the US, have readily available, very cheap human resources, Greedy and needy politicians that will cut you a pretty good tax break if you bring investment and can probably promise better and cheaper access to electricity & services than the US or the European Union. Yeah, do more regulation, see where that takes you.

[@MrJekken]

@@JokerJK-jg1gi Thats why you regulate that too doofus and punish them for outsourcing like that

[@JokerJK-jg1gi]

@@MrJekken How does that even work ? they just leave and never come back even harder, the more you squeeze, the faster you end up with empty hands. California is trying to do that right now with both the residents and the businesses, you can see how that is going.

[@EastyyBlogspot]

With bungie i am starting to think....maybe they were the problem all along

[@kakyointhemilfhunter4273]

Given pretty much all of the original Bungie higherups that made Halo as good as it was have been gone since pre-Destiny 1.... yeah, as always they were replaced by incompetent empty suits whos only goal is making money

[@CatalepticHunter]

I'm convinced that Bungie's executive built a giant pile of lies and bullshit to inflate their value before the Sony buyout, and that deception has been slowly coming unraveled ever since... and as usual, the workers are being made accountable while the executives are busy picking out new summer homes.

[@ardent835]

Took you long enough

[@Petrical]

Should've known this years ago

[@erikyuniar190]

they were part of the problem.

[@poperman3208]

Crazy that ceos can mismanage a company so bad they have to lay off 40% of the company within a year and still not get fired.

[@kunimitsune177]

Making a play for expansion isn't mismanagement lol. A good whack of that 40% weren't fired, they moved over to another part of Sony.

[@fish5645]

@@kunimitsune177 Literal numbers in this video and online show what you say is BS. A tiny margin was transferred to Sony the rest were cut off with the rest bracing for more to come. What you just did was akin to being shown the ocean and then insisting the sea is a myth. Crack is one hell of a thing apparently.

[@jordirapper]

Not just not getting fired. Usually bonuses in the millions on top of that! Everyone does this and it just seems to be... Normal. Disgusting is what it is.

[@Senumunu]

its not mismanagement. they are cutting costs by essentially turning employees into contract workers in everything but name. this is what you get when you have no protections.

[@toblerone1729]

Ah yes, let's buy multiple cars, show them to our employees, and then casually say "ah, btw, you're all fired, lmao", but hey, we're cutting costs! Bull

[@aragornelesar3862]

As if the FInal Shape review hadn't been delayed enough...now Ralph has to add a whole new part to the script. This review is gonna be 1.5 hours easy at this point lol.

[@TheOtherOtherAccount]

It’s gonna become a deep dive on Bungie, Destiny, and how both got to where they are 3 hrs long, available in IMAX theatres near you

[@pdpMASTERP]

I just watched a 6 hour Onimusha retrospective do lest go

[@Dan016]

1.5? I’ll be surprised if it’s less than 3 hours 🤔

[@youraveragehotdog6836]

It can be summed up by "idk why this dlc was praised it doesn't do anything crazy or new, 6/10"

[@Philosophical24]

I’m down

[@mikeymacaque]

Executives issuing statements like “in these challenging economic times” my brothers in Christ you’re the challenge. You’re the ones making the economy suck!

[@henlostinkykittin7407]

LMAO not you’re the challenge 😂😂 this comment took me out, and also so very true. So incredibly tone deaf

[@dealbreakerc]

Don't get me wrong, CEOs get paid too much. But even if the Bungie CEO hadn't been paid that 2.3 million he spent on cars and instead used that money to pay staff/keep jobs then he wouldn't have been able to save many at all. 320 staff and lets assume they get paid LESS than the median US salary. US median salary (the point that 50% of people are paid more and 50% less) is about 60k for fulltime workers so lets be conservative and assume those staff were getting paid 30k on average (i.e., substantially less than 50% of US workers). That 2.3 million would only keep 76.66 people employed (and only for one year and at a dismal wage at that). More realistically (because the staff that lost their jobs were almost certainly getting paid much more than 30k per year) it would be even fewer.

[@lukebent7317]

@@dealbreakerctrue, but we could also add up the bonuses and overpaid salaries he has made in past years as well because this isn’t a new problem. He’s doing this every year farther contributing to the problme. On top of that like Skillup says he is just 1 person out of several or even many contributing to this problem. And on top of all that if they made decisions based on what’s best for the WHOLE company and not just the executives it would contribute even more to solving the issue

[@ElyonDominus]

"Imagine 40% of your coworkers were just gone" Ralph, my guy, as a Software Engineer this is just another Tuesday for us.

[@EatOnionz]

That's awful man, I'm sorry too hear that.

[@ElyonDominus]

@@EatOnionz Thanks. I love the work, hate the job, y'know?

[@ChuckTownRC51]

Destiny 2: The Final Employee

[@mravg79]

Bungie: The Final Countdown

[@AlwinoFloyd]

Destiny 2: The Taken Job

[@TheShawnMower]

Destiny 2: The Last Straw

[@greed-1914]

That Humble closure is disappointing. I can easily see things hitting indies harder since those games are supposed to be 'cheap' and the publishers won't want to spend on marketing. He mentions several games that were recently released that were well-reviewed, but I have not heard of them until now. It's not as simple as toss a game out there and expect people to buy it.

[@connieellerbe-maycock7115]

It is. I own alot of their games. Sad to see them go.

[@SpectreAdept]

Remember when Bungie said they were “not that type of company” when their workers asked if executives were going to take pay cuts to save jobs? Because I sure do

[@wilbo_baggins]

If you trust anything a company says I have some special beans I'd like to sell you

[@SA80TAGE]

@@wilbo_baggins you didn't read the comment properly sport, try again.

[@wilbo_baggins]

@@SA80TAGE my statement was just a general statement.

[@dealbreakerc]

Look, I agree that CEOs get too much money for what little they do (at least in the vast majority of cases), but just do a little math to see how massive expenditure cut was vs the 2.3 million he spent on classic cars. Let's say those 320 staff were making ONLY 30k a year (median US salary is about 60k for full-time workers so this will be a very low end estimate). That means the company is now paying 9.6 million less per year on staff salary alone. So even if the CEO didn't have an extra 2.3 million to spend on cars because he kept it in the company to save jobs, he wouldn't even have been able to save 1/3 of the people who got cut.

[@Random_dud31]

​@@dealbreakercbetter to save a few jobs than none. Especially since he and upper management are the reason why they are in this mess

[@neon_shadow557]

I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s that people have less interest in indie games, it’s that they don’t know about them. I keep up with video game news regularly, and I’ve never heard of 1000x resist. Most indies get no advertising and just drop quietly.

[@moonmonkey303]

Skill up, as someone works in the industry with SLT's I fully support your anger. Like many corporatized industries, it's a broken system where sociopaths fail upwards and the talent regularly gets shafted.

[@heromedley]

they laid off the people who worked on the final shape before skill up reviewed it lmao

[@Lamont4D]

*A wild Lucy appeared!* Cool cameo 😊

[@javoncollins]

I'm sad I had to scroll this far for this comment

[@supremenigel6948]

Something similar happened in the company where I currently work. The CEO talked about how everyone would get a raise because we had broken records several times and often worked on Saturdays. When the salary increase was supposed to come, we didn't get it because the CEO bought a large mansion that cost several million dollars lol

[@RomnysGonzalez]

CEO really, really reeeeeally needed that mansion. He was feeling tight on his previous mansion that was causing him stress so he needed to expand into a bigger one so he can keep it empty for 7 months at year while he travel around the world with his family

[@gabehere]

And if you work hard enough, next year... He's gonna buy another one.

[@supremenigel6948]

@@gabehere luckily i quit last month, but that was not the only reason, there were alot different stuff that made me quit

[@tdarassp]

​@supremenigel6948 "company where I currently work" "luckily I quit last month" Why you gotta lie?

[@kosoricluka]

@@supremenigel6948 yeah because we all know that a company's money is the CEOs personal property and they can just buy mansions with it. Are you 5 ?

[@spartanB0292]

People really gotta stop seeing CEOs are normal human beings.

[@TheOneAndOnlyLUUUU]

There is a reason sociopathy and high corporate positions are connected.

[@Bandoolero]

You areso right. Its a shame being a CEO is slowly starting to become a requirement for getting a girlfriend 😂

[@edwardrichard8093]

True see them as something evil or lesser.....like are you really this dense? Bungie didn't fall or fail due to 1 rich CEO stop pretending bungie hasn't shot themselves in their own foot multiple times.

[@Oracle1126]

@@edwardrichard8093that’s the thing though the ceo is the one in charge OF bungie

[@duewest1987]

CEOs are normal people. Normal people corrupted by money and power. The grave mistake is thinking that other people are fundamentally different from you.

[@the_wrong8673]

In July 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment, the parent company of PlayStation, acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion. Two years later, it’s gone?!!!!! Nice job management.

[@Fenyxclips]

If I'm remembering correctly, that $3.6B was gone in about 6 months after the aquisition.

[@Greippi10]

At the time Sony was shitting the bed with Microsoft's gamepass doing very well, and MS buying studios left and right. Sony panicked so bad on scrambling for Bungie... But hey, nice job management! The management got a big payday regardless!

[@spazco8669]

surprising absolutely no one, a handful of volunteers have made a better fallout game than bethesda ever will.

[@84m30]

Let’s get the Pete Parsons car Tier list Ralph 😂

[@TheOtherOtherAccount]

New deal everyone - See Pete Parson and his car? Key it.

[@andrewkappler5503]

He got a 1967 shelby mustang that's way up there 😂

[@Woes6]

@@andrewkappler5503sheesh, layoffs may be justified for that sweet ride

[@wilbo_baggins]

​@@TheOtherOtherAccountI got some fuel I could use haha

[@edwardrichard8093]

​@@TheOtherOtherAccountpeople like you deserve no air on this planet.

[@Ready_Set_Boom]

The whole Bungie blog post basically admits their poor management as their reasons for these layoffs.

[@kunimitsune177]

No it doesn't. It says they aggressively expanded at an unfortunate time to do so and it backfired.

[@mr.p215]

​@@kunimitsune177that is literally poor management...

[@wayback1010]

@@kunimitsune177 what would you categorize that as

[@wayback1010]

and of course the execs that made the decision not held responsible

[@cwj2733]

@@kunimitsune177it’s almost like expanding so much to fill the fish tank you’re in is a bad idea….. hmmmmm…..

[@WaverlyGarner]

Bungie CEO: Hey, thanks for getting us through the Final Shape. Have a nice life.

[@kosmosyche]

Why did Bungie have 1400 people working for them to begin with. I'm sorry if this question might sound insensitive in light of all the lay offs, but 1400 people in a single company, that barely makes any games? (I mean, they've made 2 complete games in the last 10 years, and the last one was in 2017. Granted, they were live service games, so it is a continuous non-stop development process, but still, 1400 employees?) This is kinda crazy. Looks completely unsustainable in my profane view. I don't think making games should require this many people working on them, imagine how much money they have to make to even recoup the development costs of such huge projects with such enormous workforce working on them.

[@calebharch7229]

Bungie is entering a whole new world of shit. Thank god the final shape is a perfect jumping out point 😂

[@rodrigokiwi2]

I finished the campaign, found it awesome and never touched the game again lol

[@arcane7318]

see you next year big dog

[@MortiefiedBear]

@@rodrigokiwi2Same lmao

[@ShirleyTimple]

That's it, cut and run once your continued financial support of bad actors cost hundreds of people their livelihood and job security. Bungie mismanaged everything, YOU paid them for it eagerly and now they're cutting the very people that made the toy you paid far too much for. Bless your hearts😅

[@AlphaAceEX]

​@@ShirleyTimple What exactly you want them to do lmao, repent or sth

[@Moshmaschine]

I can't believe they got the actual (former) speaker of the house to voice the speaker-of-the-house robot. I can't really deal with Fallout anymore, but I'll be checking that out on YT for sure.

[@marccreation1052]

"I am sorry i didn' t realize what kind of losers i employed sooner. I can' t even buy a megayacht yet :(" Alan Parsons

[@Insan1tyW0lf]

_Alan_ Parsons? What?

[@ncpolley]

​@@Insan1tyW0lf u r not ready for the truth

[@wispernrain]

calling Valhalla "V-A eleven hall A" nearly made me spit out my drink

[@justanormalcat1839]

It is baffling how you mess up a company this bad. You have a massive passionate team, a dedicated player base, worldwide renown, and are the pioneers of the industry and still somehow manage to fumble the bag.

[@reinhardswart753]

I think something that could be a contributing factor to slow game sales, especially in the indi scene, is that there's just too many games. I'm working through my 100+ steam wishlist at a snails pace, with pretty much all the games I bought the last year being at least 2+ years old. There's just no reason to buy anything day one or even within the first year of release when I could easily get double or triple the number of older titles for the same price.

[@julioagua]

What makes it sadder is, the quality is not going down, most (serious) indie games are very good, but sadly there's not enough time.

[@Amrylin1337]

Well, yes, but it has nothing to do with your or anyone else's backlog. It is truly about discoverability and popularity - some of which is down to mysterious market forces and pure ol LUCK.

[@Shinkajo]

It's because the mindless masses only play games that are spoon fed to them through massive marketing efforts. A lot of them even think it's a badge of honor to only play crap like cod or fortnite and look down on "peasants" who like nuance, variety and creativity. It's a weird form of elitism or even anti-intellectualism.

[@funnywelshman9531]

Cannot fathom having multiple incubation projects from a studio who has always been one game on the market for the last decade

[@votch2798]

I mean it worked for Riot Games. Went from League of Legends to TFT, Valorant, LoR, publishing label (now shut down), and an upcoming 2xko

[@lax9586]

I am part of the union at ABK and it really is safety net for when mass layoffs happens. I was hesitant to join at first but seeing the down turn in the gaming industry I am glad I did.

[@JJJBunney001]

Out of curiosity, what made you hesitate to join a union?

[@lax9586]

@@JJJBunney001 I've never been a part of any unions. They are not that common in TX.

[@DaveVoyles]

How does it stop you from getting laid off?

[@JokerJK-jg1gi]

How do the unions stop the jobs from disappearing somewhere overseas where they can do exactly the same job, with cheaper wages, less regulation, probably tax breaks and no unions ?

[@BradsSpace2]

I never understand why every company thinks they need to constantly grow. Just because you had a hit game doesn't mean you suddenly need to scale up and work on 3 games at once. I know its about money but it's just annoying

[@SamButler22]

2 of the most recent Doctor Who actors? Colin Baker, 6th Doctor, 1984-1986. Sylvester McCoy, 7th Doctor, 1987-1989. It's just a nitpick but I couldn't let that one pass without comment

[@themagictoaster2472]

I feel like a major problem that is contributing to the fall off on indies is simply oversaturation. It always looks like my steam page is so full of indie games that it’s overwhelming. The ease of access to games nowadays is a double edged sword. Gamers are simply being more frugal with their time now. And since many indie games rely on word of mouth because they lack an advertising budget, if gamers are not playing your game, they won’t know about it either.

[@kunimitsune177]

Over saturation *of mostly garbage. There's so many good indies nowadays but they're so hard to find in the sea of shovelware

[@JokerJK-jg1gi]

What Fall Off are you talking about ? every steam future fest, i can see hundred of games i never heard about, and from there i can always find a dozen that look interesting Some make garbage or get involved with certain consultancy agencies that lead them the wrong way and bomb, but that just part of competition, only the best remain on top. And unlike AAA, there is plenty of competitors in the indie space waiting to steamroll over you if keep making mistakes.

[@Greippi10]

Oversaturation and I think covid did make a bubble in indies too. People still play games, more than ever, but they aren't home exploring indie titles as they grind their Guinean coffee for their latest hobby of raw baking a something pie. Steamdeck was kinda awesome, buuuuut.... it doesn't get non-gamers to abandon other things like trash tv, nor does it make addict gamers to abandon their most recent Mihoyo or Factorio thing. And like you say, if nobody is playing the game, why would people who actually try indie games pick it up? They do need that buzz.

[@johnstorgion6655]

A friend of a friend who was working on Marathon got laid off yesterday as part of this. She now has 2 months to find a new job in video games (good luck with that) before her visa will force her to uproot her life and she’ll need to go back to Canada. Absolutely vile move from Parsons

[@Dragonius1]

Maybe stop with the woke ideology and she can keep her job. Bye bye get back to woke Canada.

[@fattub5939]

​@@Dragonius1what does this even mean

[@kosoricluka]

@@johnstorgion6655 or just work in another industry? There are a ton of companies even with the current IT recession that are hiring for experienced people.

[@johnstorgion6655]

@@kosoriclukaI really hope so. However getting a job in the tech industry in general in Seattle is significantly more difficult right now than you may think. Another friend of mine was laid off from a FAANG company in early 2023 and it took him 10 months to find a new position. 2 months goes by pretty quickly, but obviously hoping for the best. Doesn’t change how messed up these layoffs are, especially since she was working on a non-Destiny project

[@KickinRadTopHat]

@Dragonius1 Woke is when the cis male CEO lays off women so he can buy classic cars. You drooling morons have lost the plot lmfao

[@M00shu]

The SAG-AFTRA strike is actually a massive double edged sword since the AI provision is stating that AI usage is okay as long as the actor consents. This sounds good at first until you realize that any voice actor that does not consent to having their voice used by AI will be at a massive disadvantage when it comes to finding work compared to one that does. It is not a wholesale damnation of AI which is what i suspect most want. I fear that meeting this demand would lead to MORE AI voice acting games as opposed to less.

[@CharlesAnjos]

and consent is easy to get when the worker is in a difficult position.

[@joseaca1010]

So what, people are not allowed to do what they want with their voice? At this point i feel like fighting against this technology is like trying to fight the steam engine in the 1800s Its gonna happen mate, all we can do is prepare as best we can for its implementation

[@666slateran666]

Ai won't stop, it's inevitable

[@admiralpepper6933]

​@@666slateran666 Yep, get ready for slop 😈

[@666slateran666]

@@admiralpepper6933 I mean ai could be a cool thing like the reactable npcs that change their dialogue depending on what you do. Ai is a tool, the fact that most people fear it says alot about humanity as a whole

[@heavenly2k]

This was one of your best episodes. I appreciate that you dont shy too much from talking about important but not lighthearted news. I also appreciate the extra length of the video.

[@Dan016]

Surprise Lucy cameo was the best part of the news tbh 😮‍💨☺️

[@Muck-da]

Unions aren’t a perfect solution but they are something that is in the worker’s tool belt to fight back against the growing wage gap in many industries. CEO’s can be well compensated while the workers are also well compensated, not the craziest concept. UPS already has given other unions a framework to work around and modify to make better. It’ll be good to see the unionization movement continue.

[@Chopzi11a]

UPS when unions corporatize. 😂

[@bdothitman4346]

Unions will only take what has been created before, they don't make, in the Artistic world Talent is gone and more studios will close. Unions will only delay the inevitable. Games are not your local public transport system. They are a hobie of affluent nations.

[@Muck-da]

@@bdothitman4346 unions are comprised of the people that create the products you are talking about. When employees are comfortable and well provided for it results in more productivity, creativity and innovation. The CEO and management class aren’t the ones who create the story, the gameplay mechanics, or art for the game.

[@Muck-da]

@@Chopzi11a Just because union = large membership does not mean union = corporation

[@Chopzi11a]

@@Muck-da I worked for UPS the union works directly with upper management and is pushed on the workers after their 90 day probation period

[@Garbageman28]

Going for the fuckin throat with that thumbnail, love to see it

[@EdibleClown]

I figured the Bungie news is what kept the weekly video from dropping on Wednesday est

[@wawa6711]

I'm so glad we keep on supporting big corporations and CEO's like this by buying their games and microtransactions so they can make so enough money to afford their millionaire lifestyles. What a great time to be a peon.

[@FluxNoise]

Destiny 2s pie can't get bigger as long as they don't care about having one of the worst new player onboard experiences out there. Imo nothing is lost if Bungee just dies. It's sad for the devs sure, but i'm also not becoming a fan of exxon mobile just because there are also some nice people working there. The way Bungee acts as a company is just the worst and the only reason they are still out there is becuase they manages to aquire a cult following of addicts who will defend and swallow whatever the company does.

[@mikeg5039]

"hows 6v6 feel? same as what people all loved in OW1? fantastic, now charge them for it"

[@Cookiemaster98_98]

Thats 15 euros

[@yuehan6711]

Why do people keep pretending Overwatch has a predatory monetization scheme lmao, compared to what? Destiny 2? Valorant? League? Apex? All these are worse. What else is it being compared to? The update will be free, all game format changes have been in the past, they're already worried about splitting player counts with trialing 6v6, there's no reason they'd paywall it.

[@roseyoung44]

​@@yuehan6711 While Overwatch's pricing isn't more predatory, it's the fact that it used to be better that pisses people off. For a game like Apex, it's always had bad monetization. There was never anything to ruin there. But Overwatch used to be a 1-and-done purchase, with only cosmetics on top. Add that all the new skins look like trash, and it's just insult to injury.

[@yuehan6711]

@@roseyoung44 Now it's free with only cosmetics, how has it gotten worse lmao? It's better if you're not a whale. Heros are now free, but even if they weren't that IS the industry standard. Overwatch is towards the top of monetization models compared to any other live service, which is why it's so bizzare to me it is the butt of bad monetization policy jokes.

[@yuehan6711]

@@Desmond-Dark Why? Whale based pricing is better for the average player. Overwatch 1's pricing model was unsustainable for an live service product full stop. I think the transition to a battle pass model was good for the game in every way.

[@Brioshie]

Ok, now tell us the good news! Oh, there arent any...

[@fawkesandhound]

What do you mean- Parsons has those sweet cars!

[@intro_game-night.theories]

Over on twitter a couple there was an employee talking about how they went to Parsons with their concerns. He told them there were no concerns as he was literally showing his new car to them... the next days they were let go.

[@admiralpepper6933]

​@@Chopzi11a ^ Wokie bot alert

[@mr.p215]

​@@Chopzi11anah mate flexing personal wealth to the poor has been in the dna of conservatives since their birth

[@Chopzi11a]

@@admiralpepper6933 bruh I’m starting to sympathize with the bots if actual humans act like you

[@admiralpepper6933]

@@Chopzi11a Hey bro I'm just repeating what ya saying, you sound like a wokie corpo yourself. And I'm full on sympathizing with the bots if actual humans act like you 😴

[@admiralpepper6933]

@@Chopzi11a So sowwy if I hurt your Wokie feelings, bootlicker, truth hurts 😢

[@EternalSocksofDeath]

I don't need to pretend that 40% of our staff got laid off. Its happening in the entertainment industry right now.

[@zaco8217]

why did I get hyped when Lucy showed up? like a marvel cameo lmao

[@axxa5000]

Thank you to the Skill Up crew for covering issues affecting those of us working within the video game industry, rather than just game releases.

[@ali4games10]

If Sony now controls Bungie im actually intrigued to see how they run it and if its anything better then how bungie been doing these past years...im glad

[@calebharch7229]

What will come first, the final shape review, or wrath getting added to D2 😂😂😂

[@eranronen573]

Don't get my hopes up, also more likely is d2 will be shut down forst

[@Se05239]

Very classy to give yourself the means to purchase lots of extravagant vanity shit while firing a large portion of your company's workforce.

[@michaelacriscione3834]

Hey SkillUp! Wanted to say 2 things. 1 thank you for the high quality coverage of the Bungie situation. Even with a short turnaround, you covered this story more thoroughly than most of the channels I’ve seen so far (most resting on “expansion good. So if good game not enough to save jobs, what is?” And not exploring the entire business mis management issue). But also 2 (unrelated to Bungie) the comment about a lack of interest in indie publishing following the Humble story and using 1000xresist as a one off example felt by contrast, lackluster reporting. While yes that game is good and a critical darling, its genre is niche and indie or otherwise those narrative led adventure games face a tough sell. Not saying that indies don’t have an uphill battle right now or ever in general, but even leaving social media oddities like Palworld out of the discussion or “triple i” indies like Hades II in their own lane, there are still indies popping off and getting attention in 2024. Manor lords comes to mind, and around the same time Armored Core VI announced 3 mil sales, Ender Lillies announced their own 1.5 mil milestone. All that is to say, be careful of anecdotal evidence and keep up the amazing work you do. Much love and appreciation for the channel

[@isaackelly2983]

LUCY JAMES CAMEO! Skill Up Cinematic Universe fans eating good this week!

[@syatek]

Isaac your mom is giving great pole dances thank her for me 🙏🏻

[@deathsyth8888]

"You Either Die a Hero or Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become the Villain." - Bungie

[@cjyoung5635]

I absolutely hate this saying because its never the full story. V for vendetta and code geass are good examples.

[@cjyoung5635]

Also like Handsome Jack legitimately trying to save Pandora after multiple people tried to kill him.

[@Dasaltwarrior]

I know Shill up loves Destiny, but I can't help but feel a strange sort of peace having never played it. The feeling of "its so over" has to be pretty strong right now

[@dantshort]

You missed out. Game's great fun.

[@fish5645]

@@dantshort if your opinion of fun is dragging your balls through broken glass and being made to pay for it. Sure.

[@Dasaltwarrior]

@dantshort Just not into live services, and I've never vibed with its aesthetic. Just not appealing to me

[@deathgorilla782]

⁠@@fish5645you don’t have to pay to find the fun

[@Lenariet]

Been a while. But imho the game has good gunplay, thick lore, beautiful level design/aesthetics, great music. But as the live service it is it can also be a boring slog of repetitiveness. The game itself struggles to live up to the lore it's standing on. Like 90% of it's juicy, interesting stuff is only taking place and being explained far-ish in the background while you yawn yourself through said boring, repetitive live service swamp. I still believe that a TV show or something could make way better use of the lore than a game.

[@tiaan7032]

People think the problem is the CEOs of the world, but in actual fact, it is always the Board behind the CEO.

[@edwardrichard8093]

They don't care who's actually to blame.

[@BatteryBee]

I'n getting more and more worried about the general demand for gaming, particularly among younger players 😮‍💨 They're heavily gravitating towards very sticky multiplayer games - which are often free - and basically ignoring the rest of the market. They aren't buying tons of indie games for example, because they aren't interested in following the industry. Games are often just a form of entertainment to them, and not a broader hobby. Titles like Elden Ring or Hogwarts Legacy break through, but they're the exception. This isn't to "blame" younger players at all, just that their consumption habits are completely different to Millennials & Gen X, who grew up when gaming was accelerating rapidly, and it felt like the industry was making massive leaps every 5 years. There's also a discussion about how subscription services and "free games" effect the value placed on normal 'paid for' games, as well as the insidious, time-harvesting design of social media apps....but that's a whole other bucket of worms 🙃

[@xlinnaeus]

Fuck corporate greed

[@kynsella6141]

what you gonna do about it

[@P4INKiller]

@@kynsella6141 Fuck corporate greed.

[@franciscor390]

k..

[@roninxix4428]

Corporate greed is why you have the computer you do, the video game system you play, the tv you play, the.............

[@Jumsut_]

@@roninxix4428Late stage capitalism doesn’t invent stuff. People do.

[@TheAlkez]

Would love to see Datto, Byf, and Cross back on the podcast to talk about this more.

[@Welter117]

There's really not much to say that hasn't been said last time.

[@Silencersix]

@@Welter117So say it again. The point needs to be hammered in.

[@ShirleyTimple]

They should probably focus on getting real jobs

[@ShirleyTimple]

​@@Silencersixpoor little baby needs some group think to feel better😢

[@Chillantro]

@@ShirleyTimpleyou okay?

[@lorenzosorbelli1271]

YES, let's say this shit out loud! If you are a CEO who "has come to the difficult choice of leaving some people behind" you should not have a 2 million dollars salary! You are responsible for a lot of people, and you are not in a dire financial situation. You need to choose between the livelihood of people or cars, and there's only one correct choice. Any company that behaves like this has no right to talk about "family" or any other dumb shit. Every year they get more and more revenue and not only the workers don't earn more, they get left behind because someone likes to play with cars. Every time a company earns more than the prior year and the actual workers' salaries don't grow accordingly, money is being stolen from those workers, and I'm tired of pretending this is not the case This shit will not stop until we start holding ceos accountable. People who hurt others economically speaking should be criticized for doing so, even if it's completely legal

[@Chopzi11a]

Here here! Down with the woke corpos!!

[@samzilla567]

Seriously where did the billions for the Bungie employee retention go?

[@imacmccormick]

"Imagine 40% of your coworkers are gone in the course of a year" these are depressingly low numbers in the tech world atm.

[@ManyVel]

That title, ob boy the gloves are off

[@Rakka5]

Yet he continues to play and support the game.

[@Anicca88]

and the condom...

[@edwardrichard8093]

​@@Rakka5don't worry they've already pre-ordered the next expansion. Bungie shills will still shill their failing game. They'll just point the finger at the next rich guy.

[@AwesomeDakka]

i love video games. my favourite part of them is when devs unionize because they're understandably sick of the higher ups' shit.

[@Chopzi11a]

Be careful what you wish for…

[@wayback1010]

@@Chopzi11a unions are the reason the US used to have a strong middle class

[@maaren3150]

@@Chopzi11a No I will not, I don't care if games become more expensive, the workers deserve to be treated better!

[@goober3649]

@@maaren3150 Unions stifle creativity and competition, just facts.

[@kuoyulu6714]

one group of devs leave a company because of the company being evil and greedy, they start their own company, and soon they either close door or become the next greedy evil company lol

[@JBob08]

Man that Humble announcement is rough. There was consistent quality coming out of there the last couple years.

[@AlexMakesGames80]

7 days to Die should have been released 7 years ago. The game was done in alpha 16.4 and they've made the game progressively worse since then

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

It’s kinda hard to take Sag-Afra seriously when they LITERALLY sold out voice actors after their previous strike/contract negotiations just a couple months ago the ago.

[@majort3514]

1400 staff, say average 40K a year wage per staff , 420 million staff cost since Destiny 2 released. Sony paid 3.6 billion for them. The worst decision Sony ever made.

[@chromesucks5299]

Thats not exactly how it is, the 1400 staff includes overseas contractors that work in QA/testing and other less development heavy jobs, these overseas people are basically paid pennies.

[@JJJBunney001]

There's also plenty of people making morr than that in gaming. Quick research I did showed that bungie staff on average make between 80-100k

[@BatteryBee]

Sony had the dough. The whole industry was in an acquisition spree while interest rates were low and the demand for gaming was high. They're ultimately still gambling on Bungie delivering the next live service megaton, which could easily generate billions of dollars in revenue. Let's see if it pays off...

[@duerf5826]

They panic bought Bungie in response to Microsoft buying ABK, and now they (Sony) are having post nut clarity.

[@chromesucks5299]

@@duerf5826 Not sure if this is on Sony or Bungie leadership that sold them the idea.

[@dokha.5644]

Lucy must be the next member of skill up team.

[@DontuseMyRealNameYTplz1425]

Eh she’s already working at Gamespot and Giant Bomb, not sure she’d have time for it, but would be awesome if she did

[@pixelfodder]

With all these studios shutting down in the news, it’d be nice to hear of new ones starting up or people from these companies going off on their own and need the recognition.

[@randomguy6679]

I mean, just look at the indie market for stories like that.

[@xLaniakea_]

That's No Moon iirc is a studio made from God of War, Last of Us, Destiny, Call of Duty, etc devs that havent put out a game yet but with a lineup of devs from solid games as those, I have high hopes for them already. They have a Twitter account, been a year or so since I checked up on it though, last I remember they were announcing people who got hired to their studio.

[@Lenariet]

Pretty sure they form up all the time, but the evil and vile and bad and terrible generates more clicks. Don't expect drama feasting KZbinrs to change their ways.

[@JJJBunney001]

We have been hearing that non-stop for the last few years and sadly the games aren't doing well. Recently we've had former blizzard devs who made starcraft male Stormgate and that's being recieved poorly, former bioware devs make Nightingale and that too wasn't exactly a roaring success either. A lot of the time when people get hyped that devs that worked on a great game make their own team or studio, people have the mistaken belief that what they make will somehow match that series potential. Most of the time it won't because great games are a combination of creative drive, teamwork and blind luck. You can't just take an art director from bungie circa 2006 and put them in a team today and suddenly except their next game will somehow match Halo 3

[@Thexis_]

The video game industry busted the bubble. While it is true there's a lot of corporate greed, the truth of the matter is that we don't have enough free time to consume all the video games that come out every week. It is of course disappointing for the employees that end up paying for the mistake of their management.

[@BenWillock]

Bungie was a huge studio for what they realistically did, I'm not surprised they struggled to be profitable

[@skylerlanting2576]

I never thought I'd hear anyone but me say " do you guys remember tomba?"

[@Gat720Dua]

The guy is kinda becoming the Bobby Kotick of Bungie.

[@caleb1038]

Except Bobby grew Activision-Blizzard to a $80 billion company.

[@slyseal2091]

@@caleb1038 I'm sure he had some considerable managerial skills, but the billion dollar growth was mostly up to repeatedly making the same games, having any interaction whatsoever with the phone game market, and some franchising with disney. We know for a fact those aren't decisions drawn from the calligraphy feather of wise sir kotick, they're the obvious choices for any middling manager. And so I don't think we can chalk the "$80 billion" part of his success up to anything other than being at least a middling manager.

[@philbarton2832]

​@@caleb1038Yeah, he only had to shit on everyone to do it too, what a stand up guy

[@AnymMusic]

@@caleb1038 did he? did HE tho?

[@SteelKreel]

Id like to mention that Marathon has since turned into a hero shooter according to reports. Destiny and extraction shooter players play tested the game and didn’t like it (when it was still an extraction shooter). They then hired someone who worked on Valorant I believe to lead the development of the game

[@chasesmay7237]

So, attempting to spin out a new IP isn’t something that Bungie should be, or likely is, being punished for. All the free money drying up, selling your company to a bigger company; these are things that cause people to lose jobs. Look at every studio purchased by Embracer, or any one of a dozen other examples in the last year or two. You don’t even need a history major to see how bad these things generally go

[@martinwoodrome6588]

That john guy yelling "order!" Was a constant on The Traiters gameshow. He's a good dude

[@existential_]

TOMBA! NO WAY!!!! That really brings me back, I only played it on a demo disc on the Playstation 1 as a kid.

[@edw4rd_n1gma70]

As an avid Hunt: Showdown player here, I thank you for the shoutout to the game. You, sir, are appreciated.

[@TheBigNegative-PhotoChannel]

All employees should quit and make a new studio called Eigunb but just without Pete Parson. lol

[@processedsoy]

Love the surprise Lucy talking about Thank Goodness You're Here! Loved the demo, can't wait to play that.

[@bwd8664]

These CEOs need to start being fired and blacklisted. It's getting way beyond the pale.

[@kevinroth24ify]

I knew this episode might be delayed because of the Bungie news!

[@helluva9064]

343 should hire these people from bungie to finally make a good halo again. 😂😂

[@TeKnoVKNG23]

They mismanaged Destiny for so long, how would they help make Halo better? LOL

[@helluva9064]

@@TeKnoVKNG23 Destiny is way better shape than Halo has been

[@TeKnoVKNG23]

@@helluva9064 If so that's pretty sad, I haven't touched the franchise since back when Halo 5/Guardians first came out. Hard to believe 343 is worse than Bungie at this point.

[@helluva9064]

@@TeKnoVKNG23 one of the biggest issues of halo is the combat not being great and level design is pretty trash. Things that were definitely good when bungie had the helm of halo.

[@digitalbarrito3555]

The Bungie that made Halo is not the same Bungie that made Destiny. Bringing Bungie back to Halo will do nothing to save Halo, Bungie can't even save their own game.

[@raindogxx]

I feel like Path of Exile's new league, Settlers of Kalguur, deserves a mention. It just dropped last Friday and is proving to be both ambitious and popular amongst the player base.

[@KahranRamsus]

It won't matter in the long run. The player base will spike up for a few weeks and then dip because of the seasonal model. After a month-month and a half it'll go down to about 1/2 to 1/3, and by 2 months it'll hit it's regular low of less than 15k people. Sadly, that's being optimistic as well. The seasonal model is just a beta test that people get sick of very quickly.

[@LunaJLane]

If you check SteamDB, it becomes clear why Bungie is struggling. The last release gave a temporary bump in players but in July the active players have dropped lower than they were before the expansion. I would absolutely blame Parsons for gross mismanagement. Also, I would consider Parsons and other execs like him as EVIL. I define evil as someone benefitting at the expense of others and Pete Parsons falls into this quite easily. He doesn't give a shit about the employees and it shows in everything he is doing. He is easily spending money that could have been invested to keep quality talent.

[@Pete-vz5uj]

18:53 - Get ready for tears later this year when they win 😅

[@henzoko5946]

$2.7 million worth of cars is not a lot for a ceo

[@MightyManotaur22]

he spent $2.7M THIS YEAR on ONE AUCTION SITE

[@Gibdoh]

I find it hard to believe when Ralph says that Marathon is “too big to fail.” With only one trailer and one vidoc, that don’t show nearly enough about the game, and with accusations that the official Marathon KZbin channel did viewbotting on the trailer, the game screams mediocre engagement and interest.

[@davida1229]

@@Gibdoh is there any proof about a “view botting” for the trailer? EDIT: I presume the answer must be no lol

[@Chopzi11a]

Don’t know about the viewbotting thing, but I was thinking the same thing when he said marathon was too big to fail

[@Marcu3s]

It is about how much resources had been already funneled into the project.

[@ASackOfPotatoes]

Ralph is on hard cope

[@FluxCrush]

I think he means that there is so much weighing on marathons success that if it does fail, bungie will cease to exist.

[@eminencerain848]

Beginning of the video: Corporations are raking in billions of profit! Later half of the video: Corporations are losing billions of dollars!

[@Alex-qq1gm]

The style of date everything just makes me want a Paradise Killer sequel. That game was so good.

[@yoursecrxt]

bungie’s fall from grace is sad. the same company that made halo and the like is no more.

[@jackarack5528]

The people who made bungie great are not there anymore. Same goes for naughty dog.

[@philbarton2832]

​@@jackarack5528Wdym? Naughty dog are an S-tier studio

[@feircy]

A lot of these positions were hired in when bungie was still trying to be an independent publisher and their positions are now redundant with sony involved. This was bound to happen sooner or later with your costs outpacing your revenue. So it is managements fault for hiring all these people in the first place and not cutting the fat sooner. The man spending money on cars is a side note, it looks bad but thats his money, the real problem there is the board who approved a salary that made that possible while the company was in the red. They could cut executive salries and save a few jobs, but most of those positions would still be cut as they weren't actively producing any sort of revenue

[@lewdwig]

A videogame industry CEO is a sociopath? That’s unpossible!

[@Thrillkilled]

they’re capitalists dude, i don’t know what you expect

[@kunimitsune177]

No.

[@philbarton2832]

​@@ThrillkilledI mean, you can be a capitalist and a decent human being.

[@rairai5114]

I hope Pete Parsons only has nightmares from this point on while asleep, and they are just John Bercow screaming "ORDAHHH!" in his greedy little ear. What a PoS.

[@Cozycoze40]

I understand how you feel about gacha but mihoyo has the live service system down to a science. Bungie might want to take notes. Events, scheduled updates, tons of support for f2p. All for free. Zenless pulled almost 100mil in one month.