Bungie Employees Work From Home Amid Coronavirus Concerns
Bungie has recently announced that all of their employees will be working from home as long as the Coronavirus outbreak is expanding. COVID-19 is affecting the world in many ways and the gaming industry is no different, with developers backing out of events and some, like Bungie, working from the safety of their homes. Bungie’s headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington in the Seattle area which has been directly affected by the Coronavirus. Bungie will be updating Destiny 2 for PC, PS4, Google Stadia and Xbox One from home until further notice.
Washington state currently has 39 reported cases of COVID-19 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Due to the worries of the virus making its way into the studio, Bungie has decided to minimize risk by letting developers work from home. This isn’t an optional working condition at Bungie as the leadership at the studio has enacted a policy that requires all employees to continue work on Destiny 2 remotely. Bungie apparently employs 500-1,000 employees so hundreds of developers are staying home to work for the coming weeks.
While this sudden shift in development may negatively impact most studios, Bungie has rapidly established an infrastructure that allows its employees to be able to work from home so they can remain safe during the COVID-19 outbreak. Next week’s launch of Destiny 2’s Season of the Worthy and the returning Trials of Osiris weekend PvP event will apparently not be negatively impacted by the change in working conditions. Some patches may be impacted moving forward however, depending on how long the outbreak continues.
Do you think more developers should stay home to work? What other companies are allowing their employees to work from home during the Coronavirus outbreak? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Game Rant