Luke
Smith
and
Mark
Noseworthy,
two
senior
executives
at
Bungie,
have
apparently
left
the
company,
according
to
several
reports.

Speaking
on
the
Game
Mess
Decides
podcast,
Jeff
Grubb
broke
the
news
first.
According
to
Grubb,
the
pair
were
working
on
a
project
titled
Payback
which
was
to
be
set
in
the
Destiny
universe.

“[Smith
and
Noseworthy]
were
labelled
as
working
on
Payback.
It
was
going
to
be
the
next
big
thing
for
Destiny,
but
not
Destiny
3,”
Grubb
said
on
his
podcast.
“Luke
Smith
and
Mark
Noseworthy
are
no
longer
at
Bungie.
They
were
let
go.
They
were
caught
in
the
executive
and
leadership
shakeup
mentioned
in
the
blogpost.
Payback
has
been
shelved.”

The
blogpost
Grubb
mentions
is
from
July
31st
when

Bungie
CEO
Pete
Parsons
announced
that
the
company
would
be
undergoing
its
second
round
of
substantial
layoffs
since
Sony
bought
Bungie.
Since
the
announcement,
the
studio’s
executives
have
come
under
heavy
fire,
especially
CEO
Pete
Parsons
who
has
been
heavily
criticised
for
spending
several
million
on
classic
cars
over
the
last
few
years.
Obviously,
his
money
is
his
to
do
with
as
he
pleases,
but
as
Bungie
has
struggled
to
stay
in
the
red,
he
and
his
fellow
executives
have
yet
to
take
a
pay
cut
despite
their
choices
leading
to
Bungie’s
current
issues.
Needless
to
say,
like
many
in
high
positions
within
tech
companies,
Parsons
enjoys
a
very
large
salary
and
bonuses,
and
his
purchases,

along
with
accusations
of
bragging
about
them
days
before
laying
off
staff,
do
not
look
good.

Gamespot’s
Tamoor
Hussain
managed
to
confer
with
some
sources
–
presumably
inside
Bungie
but
he
doesn’t
specify
–
and
said
that
“Smith
and
Noseworthy’s
departure
came
as
the
Payback
project
was
shut
down,
after
which
executive
restructuring
meant
they
had
no
path
forward
at
Bungie.”

Jeff
Grubb
tweeted
out
Gamespot’s
article
confirming
what
Tamoor
said:
“I
said
this
happened
as
part
of
the
layoffs,
but
it’s
probably
more
accurate
to
say
that
they
“left
due
to
the
leadership
restructuring.”
Like,
it’s
all
related,
but
they
were
not
laid
off.
Either
way,
they
are
no
longer
at
the
studio.”

Jason
Schreier
of
Bloomberg
has
confused
the
timeline
somewhat
however,
by
tweeting
out
that
“Bungie
did
some
very
early
work
on
a
spinoff
project
called
Payback,
but
they
canceled
that
a
while
ago.”

According
to
previous
leaks,
Payback
was
going
to
move
away
from
the
class-based
systems
of
Destiny
and
Destiny
2.
It
was
an
exciting
prospect
as
both
Both
Smith
and
Noseworthy were
veterans
of
the
studio.
They
both
worked
on
the
Taken
King
expansion,
widely
considered
one
of
the
best
add-ons
the
game
ever
got.

All
of
this
leaves
Bungie
in
a
precarious
place.
According
to
reports
written
previously,
Bungie’s
autonomy
is
based
upon
the
company
hitting
specific
goals.
Failure
means
Sony
can
and
probably
will
start
taking
more
direct
control
of
the
studio.