OpenAI’s board of directions recently made the decision to remove Sam Altman as CEO, and though there has been a power struggle to reinstate him back to his original position, the final verdict will remain unchanged. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, was said to be the company’s interim CEO, but now, a former Twitch Chief Executive will take that position.
Bungie CEO Comes Under Fire Over Mass Layoffs, "Tone Deaf" Response
31.10.2023 - 22:41 / thegamer.com
Bungie's CEO Pete Parsons has confirmed reports of mass layoffs within the company, describing it as a "sad day" for the studio. However, this also comes amid reports that it was Bungie who made the call to cut jobs, not Sony, leading many to label the studio's statement "tone-deaf".
These reports have not been confirmed, so it's not clear who is to blame for all of the job losses at Bungie. However, Parsons' statement is further criticised for not going far enough, as it's not clear what steps he took - if any - to avoid seeing so many workers lose their jobs with little to no warning.
"Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio," says Parsons, speaking on his Twitter account. "What these exceptional individuals have contributed to our games and Bungie culture has been enormous and will continue to be a part of Bungie long into the future.
"These are truly talented people. If you have openings, I would highly recommend each and every one of them."
The statement has largely come under fire, as many accuse Parsons of not doing enough to protect his workers.
"This feels incredibly tone deaf Pete," says Twitter user @ItsBobbySocks. "These were your people and the ink wasn’t even dry yet before putting out a statement about how great they were, but not great enough to keep."
"Was the billion from Sony that was set aside for employee retention only for retaining C-Suite guys?" asks user @MaverickLIVE_.
Indeed, as we reported back in February, Sony did indeed claim it was spending $1.2 billion on staff retention. This would be to avoid the round of layoffs we've come to expect after a huge acquisition like the one between Sony and Bungie, but now, it's not clear how this money was spent, or if it was of any use.
Since news of the layoffs was first reported, Paul Tassi of Forbes has shared claims that the cuts came from Bungie itself, not Sony. While elaborating that it may still be part of "wider cost-cutting at Sony", he alleges that the decision to cut so many jobs would have come from Bungie's management. Yet if Sony had given the company far less funding than it needed to operate, it's not clear what other choices it would have had.
We have no idea whether or not other cost-cutting methods - like reducing the pay of executives - were attempted before deciding to see so many workers out of a job. We'll have to wait and see if further reports give us any more insight into what happened behind the scenes.
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