Former Bungie Legal Exec Reveals Studio Hired Fans To Save Money: 'Fans Would Work for Less'
Former Bungie chief legal officer Don McGowan reveals how the studio hired fans to save money and discusses unionization efforts, layoffs, and internal tensions.
McGowan also revealed that during his time at Bungie, the company had approximately 1,600 employees. Earlier this year, CEO Pete Parsons confirmed that the workforce now stands at “850 team members building Destiny and Marathon.” This indicates a staggering workforce reduction of nearly 47% within just one year.
This seems really disingenuous to say. I don't like Pete, or modern Bungie at all really, but he only said 850 working on Destiny and Marathon. This would leave an undisclosed number of people working on other projects at Bungie, and would also not include administrative and other employees not directly working on Destiny or Marathon. So that doesnt mean a 47% workforce reduction, because there is an unknown additional number of employees that are being left out of the equation, likely on purpose to inflate how bad Bungie looks.
Stop buying Bungie games. They just admitted they have a culture of exploitation.
I always felt iffy about their pro-XYZ stance as well. I'm not against bringing awareness to bullying or burnout or supporting marginalized groups, but it feels so disingenuous when your game (Destiny) is obviously predatory. I guess getting people addicted and organizing their lives after the game is not something to oppose.
and how much would they have saved if they had gone for no employees at all but onlyfans?
They'd have to pay me to subscribe.
That's like the whole industry tho. It runs on enthusiasts who work long hours for less.
It's not nice as something to target, but it makes sense. Employment is about more than just straight money. When evaluating an employer, I consider everything from the top line salary, to benefits, work culture, work life balance and work environment. The non-tangible factors can mean that I would be willing to take a lower salary. That is why companies will do things like decked out rec rooms or the like. And ya, I might consider a lower salary to be part of something I love or believe in. E.g. If NASA were looking for remote cybersecurity workers, I might consider a lower salary that I would get elsewhere, just to get to be part of NASA.
Employment is a negotiation between you and your employer. And while I do think technical folks could really use a trade union (something like the IBEW for electricians), for now you have to represent yourself and make sure you get what you are worth. And this might mean not working on the thing you are really passionate about. Especially if the people in charge of it are a bag of dicks.