Bungie has a massive office headquartered in the very expensive real estate market of Bellevue, Washington. It more than doubled its size back in 2021, a move born of Destiny 2‘s ongoing success during the pandemic, which is hard now not to interpret as a sign of hubris and mismanagement. The PlayStation-owned studio now says it’s exploring subleasing big sections of the space it no longer needs following years of mass layoffs amid its games’ declining fortunes.
“Bungie is exploring options to sublease its campus in Bellevue, Washington,” a spokesperson told The Game Post, which originally broke the story. “The studio transitioned to a digital-first model several years ago, and this move reflects the team’s evolving workplace needs and the effectiveness of its remote collaboration. Bungie will continue to maintain a physical office presence in Bellevue.”
The descriptions of Bungie’s HQ sound both state-of-the-art and luminous. It included a dedicated workout space, climbing wall, and playtest areas. The Game Post reports that a brochure shopping the subleases around also mentions a motion capture studio, streaming studio, audio and Foley rooms (specialized sound recording areas), capture facilities, and editing suites.
The expansion was originally announced by Bungie as part of its big push to double down on Destiny 2‘s success and expensive content pipeline, while also investing in projects beyond its hit sci-fi shooter. Here’s what the press release said at the time:
In addition to building state-of-the-art facilities to support the growth and development of their talented employees, one of the primary drivers of Bungie’s expansion is to increase the commitment to the long-term development of Destiny 2, tell new stories in the Destiny Universe, and create entirely new worlds in to-be-announced IPs. The new facility will include a reimagining of its Bellevue, WA-based studio space to support multiple project teams, including those outside of the Destiny Universe.
From excess to layoffs
Sony purchased Bungie for $3.6 billion the following winter. Four years later, none of these bets have paid off. Destiny never branched out into being a trans-media money-maker. All but one of the non-Destiny projects being incubated were canceled (a project called Gummy Bears focusing on “frog-like action was moved inside PlayStation). Sony even decided to officially sunset Destiny 2. All that’s left at the moment is Marathon, a terrific extraction shooter that seems doomed.
During its pandemic-era peak, Bungie had over 1,500 people. Successive rounds of mass layoffs in 2023, 2024, and 2026 cut that figure by at least 600 people, not accounting for regular attrition and roles that Sony shifted to different parts of the PlayStation umbrella. It now sounds like Bungie is closer to a 500-person studio.
It’s also a “digital first” workplace that accommodates remote work, a smart play for attracting top talent and avoiding the exorbitant costs of hiring only in the greater Seattle area. But also maybe something that would have been smart to think about before launching a massive expansion of the studio’s brick-and-mortar HQ.