Bungie Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Destiny 2 has admitted that it has “lost a lot of [players] trust” after announcements about layoffs and a possible delay to the new expansion.“This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our studio’s history,” said Bungie in a post to its official website.On October 30, CEO Pete Parsons confirmed that there were losses at the developer, however neither the number nor the departments were specified. Independent analysts attributed this to a wider “restructuring” at PlayStation, of which Bungie is a subsidiary.“We’ve spent this week supporting one another, including those who are at the studio, as well as friends and colleagues who no longer are,” continued Bungie.Additionally, Bloomberg published a report this week that alleged the expansion The Final Shape is going to be released in June 2024 rather than February 2024.In this post, Bungie did not acknowledge this assertion, and shared its ambition to “make The Final Shape an unforgettable Destiny experience”.“We want to build something that will be regarded alongside the best games we’ve ever made – a fitting culmination that honors the journey we’ve been on together for the past ten years.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie is facing a full takeover by Sony, according to a new report, leaving employees worried about the studio’s future.Sony already owns Bungie, but the developer retains some autonomy. In a statement issued when the acquisition process started in January 2022, Bungie said “we remain in charge of our destiny.

Destiny 2‘s forthcoming The Final Shape expansion might see Paul McCartney‘s original soundtrack for the game return, and players are extremely excited about that possibility.Per Reddit user AtlyxMusic, Bungie is said to be recording the live orchestra sections for The Final Shape‘s soundtrack in Nashville, Tennessee. Destiny 2‘s orchestrator Ella Rae Feingold also shared a photo of sheet music to her Instagram account, obscuring the names of those involved in the composition, but she left “P.

Destiny 2 voice lines have now been added to the game.After the death of Destiny 2 voice actor Lance Reddick, it looks as though his final voice lines have now been added to the game by developers at Bungie.According to Destiny 2 developer Robert Brookes, he overheard those lines while playing the game just a couple of days ago.“Sobering moment listening to the final radio conversation in the HELM today,” he said on Twitter. “Pretty sure these were the last lines I ever recorded with Lance.”Sobering moment listening to the final radio conversation in the HELM today.

Halo have been invited to take part in the “world’s biggest” performance of its now-iconic Gregorian chant, with “no previous singing or gaming experience” required.The original Gregorian chant debuted in 2002, as part of the first Halo game’s theme.  Composed by Marty O’Donnell, the piece went on to become synonymous with the long-running Halo series, with many elements from the first theme turning up in subsequent games.Today (June 28), gamechoir has sent out a call for fans of the game to come together in creating the “world’s biggest” performance of the series’ Gregorian chant.The digital event will begin with a live-streamed vocals lesson on YouTube, which will take place on July 10 at 18:45 BST. From there, singers will be encouraged to practice using a professionally-recorded backing track, before submitting their “high, medium or low voice” performances to gamechoir.Following that, gamechoir will broadcast the final piece on August 17.Marty O’Donnell, the composer behind Halo‘s theme, has encouraged fans — “singer or not” — to take part in the Halo chant, and admitted he “never imagined” people would still be singing the chant over 20 years later.“Video games and video game music have the power to bring people together,” shared O’Donnell.

Xbox leadership wanted Microsoft to make an acquisition bid for Sega, while a “watchlist” also marked the likes of Bungie, IO Interactive, and Niantic as studios to consider buying.Currently, Microsoft is in court to defend its proposed £50billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is fighting to block.As part of the case, a number of internal emails from Microsoft have been unearthed.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has announced Marathon — a multiplayer shooter that will task players with exploring an interstellar colony in search of loot.Announced during the PlayStation Showcase last night (May 24), Marathon will see Bungie revisit its first-ever game — 1994’s Marathon — with a follow-up set in the same universe.While the first game was a single-player shooter with a deathmatch-style multiplayer mode, the upcoming Marathon will be a wholly-multiplayer game, tasking players with controlling cybernetic mercenaries who battle each other on the planet of Tau Ceti IV for “riches, fame, and infamy”.Furthermore, Marathon will be an extraction shooter — a type of game popularised by hardcore shooter Escape From Tarkov and recently seen in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s DMZ mode, which tasks players with entering an area in search of loot, competing with other players to grab gear and escape with it alive.While no release date for Marathon has been announced just yet, the title has been confirmed to launch on PC and PS5 with full cross-play functionality. You can check out its first trailer below.In a PlayStation.Blog article, game director Christopher Barrett shared that Marathon will tell “player-driven stories” and “persistent, evolving zones” to explore.“Beyond just the ‘story of your last run’ however, we want to give players the chance to affect these persistent zones and the larger world as a result,” shared Barrett.“For example, imagine a crew discovering a previously undiscovered artifact that, when activated, opens a new area of the map for all players to explore.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has claimed it has “irrefutable evidence” that a content creator – believed to be Ekuegan Teko-Agbo – was responsible for leaking news of upcoming Destiny 2 content.Earlier in the month, screenshots of a limited-access Bungie presentation were leaked – revealing details on a number of new content and changes coming to the game in Season 21.Last week, Bungie acknowledged these leaks came from “confidential summits” that the studio presents to some of Destiny 2‘s content creators.Breaches of this trust could result in our inability to hold more summits. We take these breaches extremely seriously and are taking actions to reinforce our policies with those invited to these internal meetings.— Destiny 2 Team (@Destiny2Team) April 14, 2023“Breaches of this trust could result in our inability to hold more summits,” wrote Bungie.

Bungie has acknowledged that it “missed the mark” with parts of last month’s Lightfall expansion for Destiny 2.In a blog, published last night (April 5), Bungie praised Lightfall for beating the studio’s sales expectations and bringing in the most concurrent players the game had seen “in years”.However, game director Joe Blackburn acknowledged that with the expansion’s launch, Bungie “didn’t provide the full clarity we originally planned for when we set out creating Lightfall”.The expansion’s Steam reviews currently sit at a ‘Mostly Negative’ rating, as players have reported experiencing technical issues, a disappointing story, and limited content.“It’s clear we missed the mark on some of our goals and needed to make updates based on constructive feedback,” said Bungie in its recent blog.As a result, Bungie has listed a number of areas that it plans to revisit.

Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall launched this week, and players are still uncovering everything it contains – including a new emote that references an iconic scene from the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime.Added with the launch of Lightfall, the emote is named Torturous Dance. The cosmetic is a reference to the fan-favourite Torture Dance that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure characters perform in one scene of the anime’s Golden Wind arc.When equipped, the Torturous Dance lets players perform the same dance that’s seen in the show.

Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Titanfall, has called out the “harassment” its developers are receiving from some players.Taking to Twitter, Respawn shared a statement that explains how “recently, we have seen increased harassment towards members of our development team.”“We welcome community input, however the line between constructive feedback and the harassment of our dev team cannot be crossed,” the post continued.“We want to remind our players that we have a zero tolerance policy for the threats and the harassment of our developers. We will take appropriate action to ensure the health and safety of our team,” Respawn added.

Destiny 2 last night (August 26) hosted another World First race for the reprised Destiny 1 raid, King’s Fall.In a world-wide race to claim the title of the first fireteam to defeat the reprised but improved King’s Fall raid, Guardians globally took on the challenges of the Dreadnaught and faced the ultimate wrath of Oryx, The Taken King.Only one clan could reign victorious though, and it was none other than Clan Elysium.

Bungie is set to reveal more about the next chapter of Destiny 2 in a showcase later today – here’s how to watch and what to expect from the stream.The showcase will be live today (August 23) at 5PM UK time / 6PM CEST / 9AM PDT / 12PM ET.The stream will be available on the official Destiny 2 YouTube channel, Twitch, and BiliBili accounts.Destiny 2 players can expect an update on Season 18 and the upcoming Lightfall expansion during the showcase, with Season 18 set to start just two hours after the stream starts later today.“It has arrived,” says Bungie on its website. “As we prepare for fate to unfold, the people of the Last City look to the stars—to us—for hope.

Bungie against the Destiny 2 player who was threatening the studio’s employees.Back in June, Bungie filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Twitch streamer Luca Leone, also known as MiffysWorld, for cheating, reselling Destiny 2 assets and threatening Bungie employees. Some of the repeated threats involved mentions of burning down the studio’s offices, telling employees to “keep your doors locked” via their Twitter alias Inkcel.Two months later, it’s now been revealed in a ruling issued in June by the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, Canada that the threats were much worse than originally reported (via PC Gamer).

Bungie is filing a lawsuit against a Twitch streamer who allegedly got caught cheating in-game repeatedly, selling Destiny 2 assets, and threatening Bungie’s employees and headquarters.Bungie claims that Twitch streamer Luca Leone, also known as MiffysWorld, routinely streams themselves using cheats in the form of third-party software. In the lawsuit filed on June 15, Bungie said this is “used to gain an unfair advantage by players without the skill or integrity to succeed at the game on their own merit,” and that this “ruins the experience of playing Destiny 2 for Bungie’s large community of honest gamers.”Bungie also said it has already repeatedly banned Leone for these violations of the Limited Software License Agreement (LSLA).

Destiny 2 cheat site Elite Boss Tech have agreed to pay Bungie £10.7million ($13.5million) to end their ongoing lawsuit with the company.Earlier this month (June 9) Elite Boss Tech owner Robert James Duthie Nelson and other defendants, agreed that their cheating software injects third-party code into Bungie’s copyrighted code which constitutes  “unauthorised, derivative work.”They admitted they did this wilfully. According to court documents (via Torrentfreak), the cheat software was downloaded 6765 times, with every download a separate infringement earning the defendants a £1588 ($2000) fine.As part of this agreement, the cheat makers had to agree to never create or distribute any kind of software that infringes upon Bungie’s copyrighted works again.“This permanent injunction is binding against Defendants worldwide, without regard to the territorial scope of the specific intellectual property rights asserted in the Complaint and may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction wherever Defendants or their assets may be found,” the motion reads.“Any violations of this order by Defendants will subject them to the full scope of this Court’s contempt authority, including punitive, coercive, and monetary sanctions.”In April, ​​Bungie had its legal case against cheat site AimJunkies dismissed.“Notably, Bungie has not pleaded any facts explaining how the cheat software constitutes an unauthorized copy of any of the copyrighted works identified in the complaint.

Destiny developer Bungie has shared that it will be doing more to “combat bigotry” within online communities such as its own, following a racially-motivated mass shooting on May 14 which claimed ten lives.Last night (May 17), Bungie shared a statement addressing the shooting and outlining how it plans to combat radicalisation in its own online space.“Far too often, these racist attacks begin within online communities that are used to recruit and radicalise individuals. It is time we begin to examine our practices and see what part we can play in preventing these tragedies,” explained the studio.“Bungie and the Black at Bungie inclusion club have worked together to respond to this tragedy.

Bungie has revealed that the recent wave of Destiny 2 video takedowns were “fraudulent”.Last week, a number of Destiny 2 videos were removed from YouTube following copyright claims. However, even Bungie’s own content was effected and the studio released a statement that said “these actions are not being taken at the request of Bungie or our partners.”In the latest This Week With Bungie blog, the studio has explained what triggered the takedowns, and what they’re doing to fix it“Over the past week, we have noticed an escalation in strikes against content creators in the Destiny 2 community, both big and small, and while some of the takedowns in the past have been legitimate violations of our established standards, many recent strikes were issued for content that does not violate those terms,” Bungie wrote.We’re aware of a series of copyright takedowns on YouTube and we're actively investigating.

Sony released an earnings report that included details of its recent acquisition of Bungie that revealed employee retention plans.Sony revealed plans to purchase Destiny 2 creator Bungie for £2.6 billion earlier this week, and now an earning report says that a third of the money will be used for “deferred payments to employee shareholders, conditional upon their continued employment, and other retention incentives” (via TweakTown).The deferred payments are planned across multiple years once the acquisition is complete and aim to keep Bungie’s current staff at the company. Sony is prepared to use £582 million in deferred payments in the first two years after the deal completes.The acquisition was announced in a press release which revealed that Bungie would be an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and run by its Board of Directors, chaired by Pete Parsons and Bungie’s current management team.“We’ve had a strong partnership with Bungie since the inception of the Destiny franchise, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.“This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience.” Ryan continued, “We understand how vital Bungie’s community is to the studio and look forward to supporting them as they remain independent and continue to grow.

Destiny 2 players on non-PlayStation formats may have panicked today when Sony announced its acquisition of developer Bungie. Fear not though – the sci-fi shooter won’t be turning into a PlayStation exclusive any time soon.Following Sony’s shock purchase of Destiny 2 developer Bungie for £2.6billion today, questions immediately arose over the future exclusivity of the studio’s work.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it will be buying Bungie Inc for £2.6 billion.The acquisition was announced today in a press release (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz). Bungie will be an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and run by its Board of Directors, chaired by Pete Parsons and Bungie’s current management team.“We’ve had a strong partnership with Bungie since the inception of the Destiny franchise, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to officially welcome the studio to the PlayStation family,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.“This is an important step in our strategy to expand the reach of PlayStation to a much wider audience.

Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox didn’t have a single-player campaign at first.This comes from programmer on the title Stefan Sinclair, who told Retro Gamer magazine (thanks, Gamesradar) that at first Halo was going to be multiplayer-only, and that a server connection was required for the development team to play.“Halo had been developed for internet multiplayer even in its most primordial forms,” explained Sinclar.

Bungie – is stepping down from her position within the studio, just under a week after a report into Bungie’s allegedly toxic work environment surfaced.IGN has reported that d’Hondt stepped down from her role today (December 16) and acknowledged issues with Bungie’s culture in an email sent to employees.

Destiny assets that he released without legal permission.O’Donnell released videos to YouTube and uploaded files to BandCamp, which contained musical sketches used for his work on Destiny’s Music Of The Spheres, the album which formed the foundation of the sound used in 2014’s Destiny.He has now released a video asking fans to destroy any of that content they may have in their possession.In the video, O’Donnell says, “I do not have, and have not had since at least April 2014, the legal authority

Halo and creative force behind most of the franchisehas joined EA to help build a new studio in Seattle, Washington.Marcus Lehto announced on his Twitter today (October 19) that he will be game director at this new studio, which will be working on “first-person games”.

Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto has teased his next major project – and it’s apparently not everyone’s cup of tea.Following the mediocre release of Disintegration and the closure of his studio, V1 Interactive, it looks as though Marcus Lehto is about to pick up his next big project.“Making some pretty big decisions with my career this week,” he tweeted (via VGC). “Some of you will support it, some will not.

Destiny 2 will undergo scheduled maintenance later today (September 23), with the period of downtime much longer compared to the usual fixes.Maintenance will begin at 1PM BST/5AM PDT/8AM EDT with some services on Bungie.net, as well as related external sites, going down at this time.

Destiny.O’Donnell, who also created the original Halo music, parted ways with Bungie in 2014 and was ordered to return all material related to Music of the Spheres and Destiny – blocked by an injunction in 2015 from sharing or performing it.This injunction was reportedly part of a lawsuit upon O’Donnell’s exit from the company, and although O’Donnell eventually won his case, the terms seem to have come back to bit him.Bungie said that “all material” in this case includes not just Music of the

Destiny 2 now has crossplay voice chat support across all platforms.The 3.3.01. update for Destiny 2 was released last night (September 3) and allows players to talk to their friends regardless of what platform they are all playing the game on.It’s a small but significant change for players keen to buddy up with others across different systems, although it’s not perfect just yet.

Bungie has removed the Radiant Dance Machines from Destiny 2 PVP, which allowed hunters to dodge far too frequently.The Destiny 2 Radiant Dance Machines exotic boots have been removed from the Crucible PVP modes. The hunter-exclusive item allowed players to use their dodge ability more frequently when they are near enemies.