Marathon developer Bungie has come under fire in recent weeks over an artwork scandal and it seems more dirty laundry is being aired about past internal operations of the studio now owned by Sony.
Game journalist Destin Legarie has released a new video featuring allegations from former Bungie employees, who supposedly reveal a "toxic work culture, humiliation, HR working in their own best interest, and leadership mismanagement".
As part of this, the sources Legarie spoke to claim leadership at the studio considered a standard subscription model for the multiplayer shooter Destiny 2 at one point, but the team "vehemently" shut the idea of this down. Stories about a potential subscription service previously surfaced in 2022.
Destiny 2 originally shipped as a paid release, and later transformed into a free-to-play offering with optional paid DLC expansions and microtransactions providing regular boosts of revenue. The same video shares more insight, with the same sources claiming Bungie's management was supposedly obsessed with monetising the second Destiny game in all sorts of ways.
One example was about how the leadership team was concerned the 'Trials of Osiris' PvP armour "being too attractive with its glow effect", which led to worries about this impacting Eververse sales (which allows players to purchase cosmetics with real money).
Another former employee said staff received a huge "scolding" about monetisation - with the players and community reportedly an afterthought. "Everything happening to Bungie is because of greed", said one former Bungie employee.
Despite Bungie's internal struggles over the years, the studio is currently set to release Destiny 2's Edge of Fate expansion this July. As for Marathon, it was announced it would be arriving in September.