Former Bungie Staff Speaks Out on Destiny 2 The Final Shape DLC: Blames Crunch for Missteps, Criticizes Layoffs Process
Amongst the exhaustingly endless discussion surrounding layoffs, industry standards, toxic workplaces, and the like, we’ve heard new insight from someone with direct exposure to an unhealthy studio environment. Liana “Hippy” Ruppert, a former Community Manager for Bungie, shared how the company’s culture may have led to some missteps with the Destiny 2 The Final Shape DLC, as well as some larger issues with the company’s employee treatment overall.
Now, before we go any further, it’s important to mention that this is all from the word of just one person. It’s always paramount to consider that there are other perspectives and voices on this issue that might not align with the one we’re covering here. That being said, Ruppert has been one of the most outspoken individuals regarding unhealthy workplace practices in the gaming industry, and she has firsthand experience, so we believe her take is worth reporting on.
Ruppert had much to say about the state of the industry as a whole and more specifically about Bungie in a video she uploaded on Wednesday titled “we should probably talk.” The video discusses the recent release of The Final Shape DLC for Destiny 2 and what factors played into its delay and eventual launch.
One of the most compelling—and perhaps, most unsurprising—points that Ruppert made was regarding industry crunch and how it affected not only The Final Shape, but Destiny 2’s last DLC, Lightfall, as well:
“Crunch was absolutely a leading factor for The Final Shape and I’m so glad it was delayed because there were so many things that the devs did not feel super great about and that delay gave them the time to do that. On the positive side of the layoffs, the layoffs gave [Bungie] such bad PR that leadership was forced to listen to the teams, and that’s good. That’s what we need, that’s what we want.
Lightfall’s [missteps] was leadership, they already took responsibility for that. The devs had a lot of cool stuff they wanted to do with it. And Final Shape was different before the layoffs, that’s why they announced the delay. They knew they couldn’t skate by, which is a good thing for devs and a great thing for players. Lightfall also had crunch. This is an industry wide problem.”
Lightfall was not received well by the majority of the Destiny 2 community (our own reviewer called it a “mixed bag”), and it’s unfortunate that it took something as extreme as company-wide layoffs to compel Bungie to give The Final Shape the time it needed to breathe. While this may have been a silver lining for the layoffs, Ruppert was quick to emphasize that the way they were handled was less than ideal:
“After the layoffs we saw a ton of people leave Bungie. A ton of people. And still more are looking. And it’s just unfortunate because that is what happens anytime a big layoff happens, but I think what hit Bungie the most was that Bungie leadership put in so much time and effort to make it look like they weren’t a company that would do that, and then they did it in the most callous way possible and then just said ‘f—k you, good luck.’
And that’s the part that makes me upset, because there was a lot of people that moved to relocate to one of the most expensive places in America for this only to get laid off, myself included. I had to sell my house, which was halfway paid off, which is unheard of in this day and age. And now I’m right back to ground zero.
There was another person that literally had a stroke that was in a year worth of recovery because of the stress of the job. He worked really hard to recover… only for him to finally do that year’s worth of recovering and being able to come back into work only to get laid off.”
Ruppert did make a point to credit those in leadership who have been doing their best to make positive changes within the company. At the same time, she noted that these changes were still “a long way from where they need to be,” and emphasized that the studio needs the support of the community to ensure that the right transformations are made.
Nothing we heard here is necessarily new or shocking to the industry, unfortunately, but it doesn’t make it less important to shed light on. With the thousands upon thousands of layoffs we’ve seen in the last year or so, it’s more important than ever to put a spotlight on the developers behind the games we play and make their voices heard.
If you’ve been playing The Final Shape, leave a comment and let us know if you think the delay improved its quality. The DLC is available now on all platforms.
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