Destiny 2 users who have pre-ordered next year's expansion The Final Shape have begun demanding refunds as a way to voice their distaste at the round of layoffs that hit Bungie on Monday. Spotted by The Game Post, threads on Reddit are being posted to remind fans they can get their money back across Steam, the PS Store, and the Xbox Store. This has resulted in posts with thousands of upvotes and fans sharing how easy it is to request a refund on each storefront.
Many players have already shared evidence of a successful refund on social media, which sees up to $100 returned to their account having pre-ordered the base DLC along with its season pass and any bonus content. The Reddit post which sparked the refunds argues they're entitled to a refund because their expectations of The Final Shape won't be met on release day — which now seems to have been pushed back four months.
Twitter user @JackieDaggers explained she can't "in good conscience give a company that screws people over this hard my money" while @GatlinBrown3 said they can't "keep supporting a company I don't agree with anymore". Many other fans suggest they're considering requesting a refund following the layoffs that saw nearly 100 employees lose their job at Bungie this week.
Player sentiment and interest in Destiny 2 is said to be at an "all-time low" following the latest DLC Lightfall and the seasons of content that followed it, meaning a round of refunds from fans will only reveal their disappointment in the product further. The company is projected to miss its revenue targets by 45 per cent as Bungie's other game Marathon is internally delayed to 2025. Cancelling a PS Store pre-order can be done by speaking to a representative on the PlayStation support website.
[source reddit.com, via thegamepost.com]
Comments 54
Sh**storm incoming! Hoping Bungie can pivot from this and give us a new, non-predatory game.
I still don't get why someone would pre-order (and pay!) digital stuff like DLC that far in advance. It's not like it won't be in stock once it releases
Pre-ordering a few days before release is more than enough.
I would love to see what companies these "fans" are giving their hard earned money to.
They shouldn't be using an android phone since Google layed off 12,000.
They shouldn't be ordering stuff off amazon as they also laid off over 10,000 staff.
Best not be using Microsoft windows as again they also laid off 10,000 staff.
But bunjie lay off 100 and they must cancel their pre order and not give a penny of their hard earned cash.
Maybe their game isn't sticky enough.
Lol good luck
@mariomaster96 For real. I'm very confused by the people who pre-order digital stuff THAT far in advance.
@JSnow2 Well Naughty Dog did the same to Bend Studio back in the Vita days. Besides your assuming that Bungie themselves acted alone...they wouldn't have done, Sony would have final say. Plus there's no way of knowing what state the game was in.
Layoffs are awful. Employ someone and later tell them you don't need them anymore...tf!
@UltimateOtaku91 One step at a time.
Maybe it’s just me, but if more people were spending money on the game, there would probably be fewer layoffs. The game development industry seems pretty exploitative overall, but pulling financial support for struggling projects doesn’t seem to be in anybody’s interest.
I requested a refund an hour ago. I've been told I can't have one, because apparently I "never actually bought it in the first place". Disgusting company.
Do people think this will make a difference 😂
I don't think this will help with job security. I obviously understand the fans' frustrations, and the layoffs are obviously very sad for all involved, but it's not like Bungie has been the only company cutting staff this year.
If somehow you’ve already pre-ordered AND PAID FOR (I preordered Bayonneta 3 about 4 years before it released on Amazon but it was free so🤷🏻♂️) a dlc that was due out in February but has now been delayed until June you sure as heck should be able to get a refund, that shouldn’t even be a question or a debate, just a refund.
To be honest, I stopped 'supporting' Bungie and Destiny years ago - I voted with my Wallet at the direction and monetisation methods they were utilising before they left Activision so I can appreciate why many feel this may be the 'final nail' in the Coffin from their perspective.
It already seemed to me that the 'paid' for content wasn't given the time, the attention etc as much as the Eververse and MTX Cosmetics - often 'better' than the Rewards offered from the highest tier paid for content (Raid Rewards) and the fact that they 'sell' you all the 'great' gear you can earn, only to basically take it away the following DLC so you have to 'grind' again and again...
I don't know if this is 'just' about the Layoffs, but the whole 'news' - don't feel like the Final Shape will now be worth the Price (reduced in quality, content etc with 'fewer' working on it) and after the last DLC was disappointing - this is a combination of factors that was the tipping point for them...
lets help the employees of this company by demanding money back putting it further in the hole, bungies gonna hire the bobs from office space for the next round of layoffs after all these refunds
I don’t understand this way of thinking. If a business doesn’t make enough money it will have to cut cost, in this case it’s sad because human being are on the chopping block, but at the same time a company that spend too much for too long will just shut down and then even more people lose their job…
I don't have an alternate or a solution, but I'm not sure that this is the way to help the people who are still working there.
Cuts like this are happening all across the tech sector. This isn't unique to Bungie.
@UltimateOtaku91 ikr, "corporations do horrible $#!T? i had no idea!!!!"
I'm a bit confused by this, people losing their jobs is sad and I hope they can find work elsewhere but without sounding unsympathetic it is something that does happen in workplaces everywhere.
I don't think it's reasonable for companies to keep people employed indefinitely no matter what happens.
If sales aren't what was expected that means budgets will be reduced so cuts are an unfortunate option. Not the only option by any means and of course there are other things they could have done.
I think we have to be careful separating companies like Facebook punishing the workforce for a failed idea by it's CEO (the cuts after the metaverse mess) and companies having to keep a balance.
Cancel all the pre-orders and see how many get laid off next year....
What a storm in a tea cup.
Bungie are often regarded as treating their employees really great, and their retention bonuses after the acquisition were fairly ridiculous.
This is more just reflective of what's happening in the industry as a whole but nonetheless sad for those that lost their jobs.
This is direct action, hitting the execs’ bottom dollar. What else would you have disgruntled fans do? We’ve seen layoffs even with record profits so what’s the f**king point in giving these fat dobbers any more of our money?
every company had do layoffs , are people not aware of the climate right now? companies hate doing layoffs , its not like they enjoy doing them. you are just punishing the people that still work there instead?
@nessisonett "What else would you have disgruntled fans do?"
Go outside and touch grass. This whole reactionary cancel culture nonsense is complete cancer. If people are disappointed in the direction a game is heading and they no longer want to support it, cool, I completely understand that. But when that becomes trying to rally others in to your way of thinking, encouraging people to follow you and potentially harm the livelihood of individuals who are just trying to do their jobs, then you're just an attention seeking a**hole.
If you want to protest about the layoffs, then surely cancelling your current preorder is the worst thing to do???
It'll just reduce sales forecasts, revenue predictions and probably promote further layoffs in the long run.
I'm legitimately confused by this whole situation.
1: Beyond getting incredibly minimal perks in-game, there doesn't seem to be any reason to preorder DLC.
2: Cancelling said preorder because layoffs "disrespect" their employees shows a fundamental ignorance regarding how businesses operate. Layoffs suck, but from the outside, we have no idea whether many of these positions were redundant or if the company became way too bloated from the pandemic boom (like a bazillion other companies had become - see X, Meta, Microsoft, etc.).
In my humble opinion, ignorant internet outrage has become so out of control. These little bubbles are so high on their own self-importance and virtue-signaling.
@mariomaster96 You get content that can be used in the game now for pre-ordering. That’s the main reason why someone would get it this far in advance, I would guess.
'company laid off employees because they're not making enough money, so let's cancel preorders and show them!'. How does that not just compound the problem to laying off more people. This isn't a small indie dev, they don't care about anything but $$. Gaming landscape has changed. All these companies care about is maximizing profits. Micro transactions and dlc of PS3 era have become 20$ skins and drip fed crumbles of content.
The fact that they relied on a 2017 game to fund 1100 employees and development of 3 games is mind boggling. Especially when said quality of releases is not good.
@DeepSpace5D Oh yeah, I guess that could be the case. I think Pokemon SV did a similar thing where you would immediately get a Hisuian Zoroark when pre-ordering the DLC
Yeesh this has been a bad week for Bungie. Sad to see even though I haven't played Destiny since Destiny 1 launch time really. I wonder if some employees there wish they were still working on Halo.
Pretentious people are the most disgusting.
@Korgon I played a ton of D1 and fell off D2 within the first year or so. While I understand their commitment to a continued game platform, I think they probably should have come out with a D3 to reset the playing field. It would have made it a lot easier for new or lapsed players to get onboard and allow to fundamentally change bad/broken mechanics from one game to another. I imagine anyone who wanted to work on Halo has had every opportunity to move to 343, but given the state of that game, I don't think it would be any better. Here's hoping Marathon is the shot in the arm everyone needs. No doubt D2 is suffering because all the top talent is working on that instead of D2.
Moral superiority complex at its finest.
What a bunch of hypocrits. They'll cancel the DLC citing 'I no longer support a company that behaves this way' but still use child-slave labour enabling Apple phones, amongst other like-minded products
@UltimateOtaku91 I was thinking exactly this just after seeing the headline. I guarantee 90% of them at least will still buy it on or before release anyway.
Removed - disrespecting others
@Loamy @Intr1n5ic Yeah, welcome to the blocked club! It´s way better this side.
wtf? bungie is in bug trouble, time to defrost factions 2 imo
@mariomaster96 In Destiny's case, because Bungie gives you a new exotic weapon immediately when you pre-order, everyone who doesn't pre-order has to wait for the expansion.
It's not a GOOD reason, but it is THE reason people pre-order Destiny expansions so far in advance.
People still play this trash?
@Intr1n5ic I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you on that because the reddit post isn't saying, "EVERYDONE NEEDS TO REFUND THEIR DLC PRE ORDER, REFUND IT, THE GAME WILL DO TERRIBLE" it is just saying that the quality of the game is possibly not going to meet expectations and that he is refunding his and that others can as well if they so choose to.
If I were to see hundreds of people being laid off from a company I'd be worried about the quality of the product as well.
It's a viscous cycle, people have every right to vote with their wallets but cancelling pre-orders and boycotting is likely to lead to the very thing they are protesting happening even more.
@wildcat_kickz
Yeah I hope Marathon turns out well although an extraction shooter isn't the first choice I would have made after D2. I can't say the idea has me personally excited.
The reason I brought up Halo is because as all this has happened Halo Infinite actually seems to be turning things around. It's still really fun and with forge being finally up and running the game finally doesn't feel starved for content anymore.
Both 343 and Bungie have had their ups and downs but this latest Bungie mess feels like a particularly big down is all.
Removed - disrespecting others; user is banned
Am I the only one thinking that even though they fired 100 employees upper managements "bonuses" would not have been affected? But now with all the cancelled preorders will they keep axing staff or take a lower cut.
@TheArt "Layoffs are awful. Employ someone and later tell them you don't need them anymore".
Sometimes it's hard to tell if people are being sarcastic online, but what you stated is exactly why free markets work. A dynamic work environment allows employers and employees to move freely according to demand.
This Bungie situation, as it comes more into focus sounds like scumbag cold calculated greed driven investment banking like actions. Turns out Sony was involved via demanding spending cuts.
The fallout from this will be significant behind the scenes for the platform and bungie for some time. This was the worst acquisition decion Sony has made.
This is going to be one hell of a stale period of nothing while Sony quietly tries to rebounded from their own mismanagement. They allowed hardware sales and greed to drive a level of complacency that has had serious implications for them internally and publicly.
Now they have to try and right the ship, not for us the gamers, but for the greed driven shareholders whom are likely dumbfounded on how to see a positive return on investment from a greatly overvalued 3 and half billion dollar mistake based on greatly overstated revenue projections.
Just a mess
Recommend the recent Aztecross video. It’s a lot worse than what is being reported on.
Good, ppl should be demanding better from Bungie.
If the last expansion ever sees the light of day witch is set to end the destiny 2 story. I highly doubt they will be a destiny 3. The game has struggled to begin with one expansion will be great and the next will awful rinse and repeat. This is what happens when you allow your self to be bought and sold by corporations. The same thing will indeed happen to Activision in time when Microsoft wants to trim the fat to try to recoup their big spending to buy the whole company. You wanna know how all this ends? It ends with sony and Microsoft owning the ip's and the developers being jobless.
@GeneJacket agreed and on each season pass its the same year one exotics over and over again. It's pointless just cosmetics that's offered and recycled exotics from the orignal game. They gave the sorry pass of all the live service games.
I don't think Sony should have ever bought out Bungie. Isn't Bungie telling everyone they Overdeliver in Lightfall(they underdelivered)? Money would be better spend buying Arrowhead Game Studios.
Next article 150 more people fired. It's not only on Sony they got the free reigns and what did we get from Bungie the last time?
One YouTube user who is a big streamer of the game believes that D2 was there to help fund Marathon but because the 45% downturn has happened they delayed it. He believes marathon will be Bungies new baby and D2 will be there to fill the wallet whatever is going to happen it's not good for Bungie.
Since they are owned by Sony now could they be merged within if things carry on
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