As the threat of the coronavirus rises in the United States, more and more game companies are taking precautions. Many pulled out of PAX East in Boston and the entire GDC event in California was canceled but now it has been taken a step further. On March 5th, 2020, Bungie announced they’ll be temporarily closing their studio.
The Seattle-based developer known for Halo and Destiny has announced it will be closing their offices in favor of having employees work from home. Bungie has noted that it likely won’t have any significant effect on their plans for Destiny with upcoming events like Trials of Osiris still on track for release.
“Today, we have activated this fully remote work infrastructure and policy for all Bungie employees across the globe, with the goals of prioritizing the safety of our employees and continuing to develop and deliver on a game we love for our community,” said Bungie in a blog post.
“To accompany this policy we have rolled out technical solutions for all employees to be able to maintain communication with one another, as well as to continue working on development and maintaining game-critical functions while working remotely. Our goal is to continue crafting the ever-evolving Destiny universe, while making those behind-the-scenes efforts to keep everything running smoothly invisible to our fans. While there is a possibility that this change could affect our patching cadence in the short term, we will be sure to keep players informed about those schedules as much as possible. Most immediately, we will still be launching Season of the Worthy on March 10, followed by the start of Trials of Osiris on March 13.”
Bungie will be keeping this policy in place until the threat of the coronavirus lowers in the United States and Seattle where there have been confirmed cases.
We recently published an article about how the coronavirus is effecting the gaming industry with new consoles and major releases on the horizon. You can click here to read it.
