Sony president and soon-to-be interim CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Hiroki Totoki has put Destiny 2 developers Bungie on blast, asking them to be more accountable for their business decision-making.
Totoki, who was appointed president and chief operating officer (COO) of the Sony Group Corporation in April of last year and is set to take an interim CEO role at SIE once Jim Ryan departs on April 1, spoke during a Q&A session after the company's latest financial results briefing.
While the live translation of the video session provided by Sony was broader, only mentioning game studios, the written summary specifically states that the interviewer only referred to Bungie, asking for an update on plans for the company in 2024.
Totoki responded that he had visited the Bungie studios and was impressed with certain aspects of the studio, describing employees as "highly motivated, showing great creativity as well as an impressive knowledge of live services."
He questioned their business decision-making and development processes, though, making a point to raise concerns, stating:
I also felt that there was room for improvement from a business perspective with regard to areas such as the use of business expenses and assuming accountability for development timelines. I hope to continue the dialogue and come up with some good solutions
It's no secret that Bungie has had difficulties hitting deadlines in recent years. In 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were forced to delay The Witch Queen expansion, which was released in February 2022 after initially being scheduled to come out in the fall of 2021.
The Final Shape DLC was also delayed this year, announced to be coming in February, but gamers eventually got their hands on it in early June.
That's not the only issue Bungie has had to deal with. It was recently reported that Bungie had missed its revenue projections in 2023 by a staggering 45%, resulting in layoffs at the company.
Furthermore, another report suggests that Bungie's ability to act independently from the rest of Sony, a key marketing point both companies reiterated constantly when the studio was acquired by the Japanese conglomerate, is also in jeopardy.
The extensive report by IGN suggests that if Bungie fails to meet financial goals, Sony is within its right to dissolve the existing board and take full control of Bungie.
2024 is a do-or-die year for the company, with Sony breathing down its neck and fan trust at an all-time low (something that seems to be said every year), The Final Shape needs to hit hard for Bungie or we could see the last of them as an "independent" studio moving forward.