This Week At A Dark Monday At Bungie

-This Week At Truth, we're going to spend a lot of time processing the news from yesterday, speculating on the future of the game, and wondering what's next. I'm still going to deliver the weekly stuff I routinely do, but I think we need to address the elephant(s) in the room regarding the Bungie news yesterday.

-Monday, October 30th, was a dark day for a lot of Bungie employees. Mass layoffs that were not expected, despite a number of other major publishers succumbing to a similar fate all year, hit Bungie and our social feeds. Without any communication from Bungie besides a tone-deaf Pete Parsons tweet on the matter, we watched as tweet after tweet from laid-off Bungie employees came through. It was especially hard for me seeing the social and CM team announce their layoffs - they are who we see and interact with more than anyone. As a community, we feel like we know the community and social teams more than any other employee. We hope for the best for them and all of the Bungie employees in their search for new work. 

-We also received word when Jason Schreier broke the news on the layoffs that the culmination of the light and dark saga, The Final Shape DLC, has been delayed until June of 2024, approximately 4 months after its planned release date. This is all we have to go on but it has not been said officially by Bungie yet to the public. We have no other information about what will happen next season with an extended Season 23 and what to expect with that. 

-Was this the fault of Sony? Of Bungie's leadership team? Potentially pushing the DLC into Sony's new fiscal year, and the mass layoffs (I'm not even getting into the reported delay of Marathon until 2025) carries the stench of corporate greed by Sony. Our expectation last year when it was announced and finalized that Bungie was purchased by Sony for $3.7Billion was that we would see a better Destiny experience, more resources at their disposal, and hopes were high for what was on the horizon. I've never felt so despondent about this game as I do now. Bungie is now with its third different parent company and there has been management issues all along the way, so should we be pointing the finger at Parsons, and the rest of their leadership who have been at the helm while every setback has occurred in Destiny, whether with Activision, Sony, or while an independent company? We have no idea what leadership or the teams running the show look like anymore, who will be giving us the information we seek, or what things will look like between now and The Final Shape, how this impacts the future of Destiny 2, and where we will go from here.

-I read Schreier's book "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" years ago (both of his books on the game dev industry are fascinating and I would say must-reads for any gamer), which had a full chapter dedicated to the poor decisions and corporate greed that influenced the launch and mismanagement of Destiny 1. It feels like we're still in the same boat, just a different publisher, different leads, but the same problems. 

-I'm angry for everyone, whether they've built this game or sunk thousands of hours into it. Our collective Destiny experience has been marred moving forward. Just as we were building up for what is expected to be an epic showdown in The Final Shape, we face more issues that we have no control over. For our Clan Truth family, we will do our best to continue bringing the best community experience we can to you. Please keep in mind, this isn't a time to "be right" about something, it's a time to breathe. It's okay to be upset that our sought after DLC is delayed, and that some of the longstanding Bungie employees we know were let go. Just know that we aren't going to let negativity fester throughout our Discord, so please tread lightly when discussing these matters until we get more clarity.  

-This week is the final week for Festival of the Lost content. Be sure to finish up whatever you may need to if you're aiming for specific weapon rolls, triumphs, and more. The Nightfall and GM is Devil's Lair, and my weapon rotation is all off so good luck. Warden's Law maybe? IDK. Zone Control and Mayhem are Crucible rotators. The rotator trio is Vault of Glass Raid, Prophecy Dungeon, and Vox Obscura exotic mission. And bonus Gambit ranks for L3bron Gam3s. 

-Nothing is stopping our festive picture from happening, be sure to drop something in the #holiday_art_picture channel by tomorrow. Can't wait to see what onehandedbanditt cooks up this year! 

-I put my thoughts down on everything, and probably could have put down more, but this isn't about me. My personal ask is that we don't revel in anyone's firings, and hope that the ship gets right over at Bungie, for everyone's sake. Cheers.

--Witty