And if we are getting "technical" like these guys pretend to be, having a larger team that could be closer to AAA size is a black eye of in itself. Turns out, having a massive team is not really the problem, leadership and lack of focus is lol...

It is a very stupid narrative, and one that would not have mattered except that it is being used to dunk on AAA currently. It was also a narrative pushed by influencers in the gaming sphere, with most of them pushing back on anyone claiming otherwise.

And because it is supposed to be a "gotcha" moment, people get very pissy about it. The contractors are not "devs", they do not count. Artists are not "devs", they do not count. Voice actors are not "devs", they do not count. Yet not everyone on the core team were "devs", so they should not count.

You should see some of the hoops they jump through to actually justify not including them.

Reason why people get bitchy is because it changes the narrative that was used against AAA companies that have massive teams making bad/meh games. It is a way to put them on a pedestal they never asked for.

Bungie's senior leadership get their final payouts for the acquisition in summer 2026. Internally it is expected they want to push Marathon out the door ASAP, take the check, then leave the mess for those who stick behind. It is presumed that Marathon being released is key to that payout.

Maybe, but from we heard, Sony does not want to deal with that headache. So if not shuttered, then significantly downsized.

Unlikely Marathon will be delayed either, so they are willing to push it out however incomplete. Maybe it is solely on Sony for that, but I doubt it. Fun fact: --

I do not think it was on purpose on Sony's part, I think it is the culmination of the erroneous financial issues and promises on the part of Bungie. It sounds unrealistic because it is, and I have to bet that part of it comes from how much Sony pumped into Bungie to get Marathon to the finish line

Even former Bungie workers claim that the company misrepresented their financials, and if they were not acquired, they would have faced insolvency. Sony, for all the faults they have (and they have many) bought a lemon. Not all games nor companies have the baggage that Bungie does atm.

Sony had bought them a few years now, it was a near 4 billion dollar deal. Bungie had used up the 1.5 billion employee retention money by 2023. Microsoft had internal memos about potential studios to buy and Bungie had a high burn rate.

The most promising project was Marathon, the one they had invested so much into including moving D2 staff over to it. Bungie themselves were banking on Marathon being good before Sony bought them, so much so that Sony was relying on that sentiment when purchasing them and future financials.

I would argue it is not simply investors in the case for Bungie, especially with regards to Marathon. Bungie has been leaking money as a sieve for years, it is the reason why they were looking to be bought by one of the bigger companies. It was their fault, they were incubating too many projects.

Quite special even when it was in early access. I love speculative ecology of both games, and the sense of wonder. It was a lovely stream to watch, with you enjoying the game at your pace even though there can be a lot of backseat gaming with this game in particular o/ hope you cont. to enjoy it~

Look at that face ;-;

Hello Prim, and welcome to Bluesky Impulse. Saw someone holding onto your handle for you a few days ago, glad you got it. Think that is the case with a few other of the hermits. They'd likely have to contact the others if they want their handles here. Glad it was not a genuine impersonator o/

Definitely... Even while currating who I follow, it was difficult to escape. Stopped using socmed much because of it.