Destiny 2 players who were stunned by Bungie have fired Michael Salvatore, its famous composer

Fans and employees alike are still learning who exactly has been fired from Bungie following yesterday’s widespread layoffs. After the company’s meeting with CEO Pete Parsons, employees from a wide range of departments learned they would no longer have jobs, including cuts from the social media, community management, engineering, player support, quality assurance, recruiting, and legal teams.

But while many of the cuts were to front-facing team members like half of the communications team, later in the day rumors began to spread that Bungie may have done the unthinkable and laid off Michael Salvatore, the famed Destiny composer responsible for countless amazing tracks. In the history of the franchise.

First, there was a report from Carson Reed that Salvatore had been let go citing inside information. But as of this morning, Salvatore, who is not on social media, He changed his website bio To remove all references to Bungie, and change the text to “Gone Fishin’ :)”

It is possible that rather than being fired outright, Salvatore was let go through some sort of “early retirement or other” offer. But this happens on the same day as all the other layoffs, including another member of the musical team who was let go, Deep Stone Lullaby composer Michael Seacrest (who changed his bio to “Went Fishing with Salvatore…” ), it is clearly part of the same execution process, whatever form it takes.

Whatever the case, that’s clearly not what happened with famed former Halo composer Marty O’Donnell which led to a messy breakup with Bungie and lawsuits, a grudge he holds to this day. In this case, everyone, especially the fans, loved Salvatore and no matter the ups and downs of the game, his music was never missed. cat.

For many players, this moment in particular feels like the beginning of the end for Destiny. While this may be an exaggeration and almost impossible, given that Destiny 2 is everyone Of Bungie’s revenue right now and they can’t stop supporting it anytime soon, it certainly raises questions about the level of continued investment in the game after The Final Shape, whether that’s due to a marathon release or if Bungie actually has a solid, long-term plan for it . But morale of both staff and fans was downright plummeting after yesterday, and it’s not clear how far it can recover.

Whatever happens, this is a moment of sea change for Bungie. I’ve heard the idea of ​​laying off your social media and communications teams at a moment like this is like firing your fire department. Now, with Salvatore gone, I don’t even know the analogy (tearing down the best music venue in your city?), but it’s so bad, so brutal, to see that one of the only people at the top of the company who seems to lose his job is…the person who’s doing the best job possible. , as he did for years. Bad, bad times at Bungie right now. I’ve asked Salvatore for comment and will update if I hear back.

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