Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, two senior executives at Bungie, were both part of the recent round of layoffs, according to a new report. Speaking on his Game Mess Decides podcast, Jeff Grubb confirmed that the duo were working on Payback, a new game set in the Destiny universe, but were let go as part of sweeping job losses at the now PlayStation-owned studio.
“[Smith and Noseworthy] were labelled as working on Payback. It was going to be the next big thing for Destiny, but not Destiny 3,” Grubb said. “Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy are no longer at Bungie. They were let go. They were caught in the executive and leadership shakeup mentioned in the blogpost. Payback has been shelved.”
[Update] Sources have clarified that Smith and Noseworthy’s departure came as the Payback project was shut down, after which executive restructuring meant they had no path forward at Bungie.
Smith was executive director at Bungie and became a notable public-facing representative for the studio, having guided Destiny 2’s narrative back to a place that excited fans and more clearly set up a long-term story for the sci-fi shooter. Noseworthy, meanwhile, was vice president of the Destiny universe and responsible for the overall strategy of Destiny as an intellectual property and a business.
GameSpot has contacted Bungie for a statement.
On July 31, Bungie executive Pete Parsons confirmed the company is cutting around 220 people from several departments. This number represents 17% of its workforce. A further 150 people are reportedly being moved around Sony Interactive Entertainment.
“Due to rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions, it has become clear that we need to make substantial changes to our cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on Destiny and Marathon,” Parsons said. He also indicated that layoffs at “every level” of Bungie and that “most” of Bungie’s executive or senior leader positions are impacted.
As part of the layoff announcement, it was also confirmed that Bungie is working on a brand-new game, but it is not Destiny 3 or Payback. Instead, this new sci-fi project will be developed at a new internal studio being set up within PlayStation.
The layoffs follow the release of Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion, which was very positively received by fans. Although Destiny 2 remains one of the most popular games-as-a-service titles on the market, the significant job losses at Bungie have called into question what content players can expect going forward. According to Grubb, the larger expansions that Bungie has traditionally released are unlikely to return and players will instead be given smaller content packs.
Bungie is also working on a new Marathon, which is coming back as an extraction shooter.
