Pete Parsons Did Nothing Wrong
This is just how business is done
Today, Bungie announced another reduction in work force, and for many (now ex) employees and fans, this is a disaster scenario. A beloved developer, acquired for $3 billion, going through layoffs AGAIN? Who wouldn’t consider this a failure?
Well… me.
See, Pete Parsons, the CEO of Bungie, did nothing wrong here. Parsons had a vision 5 years ago to grow the company into a new form, and after it didn’t pan out, some people got cut. From a CEO perspective, that’s just the life of the business. Sometimes things don’t become what we intended, and the best business decision to make is to cut employees.
Yeah, sure, those employees just got some very heartbreaking news, but Pete is fine. I get that people are incensed by these firings, but listen - Pete is going to be okay. Sure, he might go another year without a bonus that mirrors the entire yearly compensation of one of the level designers, but listen, he basically gets $15k a month normally so its not that big of a bust.
Pete didn’t do anything wrong here, he just did what CEOs normally do. It’s not that big of a deal. We keep blowing our gaskets on this stuff, but Pete is just playing the system as it was designed. It’s like saying you’re playing Elden Ring wrong if you go a full bleed build. That’s just how the game was designed.
So how can it be that Pete is a bad leader or bad CEO? Capitalism was designed to exploit people for gain as much as you possibly could, and Pete is just playing the game normally. There’s nothing wrong with inducing panic attacks and leaving workers to figure out how to survive. I mean afterall, they agreed to work for a company that chose this direction! So really if they weren’t willing to make Pete’s dream come true at all costs, is it even his fault?
And lets be honest here, the workers aren’t anything but a tool to use to help Bungie make more money. And if making the company money is the goal, pete has done a phenemonal job. He got Sony to fork up 3 billion dollars. I mean holy fuck that’s amazing for Bungie. And honestly, I would trust pete with my finances. Just look at the track record - get 3 billion, and never spend a dime saving any employee from being fired.
That’s true leadership.