Bungie’s decision last month to become the number one workplace was a small surprise as the video game developer is expanding its headquarters space in Bellevue, Washington., Recently rented two floors in downtown Seattle.
According to CEO Pete Parsons, the move to become a digital first workplace will not affect Bungie’s office expansion plans, which is known for its massively multiplayer first person shooter game destiny 2.
“Making good games is empowering talented people,” Parsons said in an email to geekwire. “We have clearly heard that our team really benefits from the flexibility to choose where and how to work. We will still provide Bellevue and Seattle teams with amazing employee alternative workspaces that can benefit from physical space, amenities and expertise.”
Parsons continued: “our studio will be where our team wants to spend their time.”. “No need.”
Although many technology companies successfully switched to hybrid or full remote work at the beginning of the epidemic, this shift was difficult for some game studios because it delayed production. But according to Bloomberg, productivity will recover once companies help workers bring better tools and equipment home.
Other game companies such as Ubisoft are also turning to mixed working mode.
Bungie’s current Bellevue headquarters area is about 200000 square feet, while its rental space in the 2 + U building in downtown Seattle accounts for another 60000 square feet.
Bungie has now approved remote work in six states outside Washington, including California, Oregon, Illinois and Texas.
The company had been working remotely for the past two years and was able to release the last extended version of Destiny 2, the witch queen, as a fully remote studio at the end of February. Bungie has about 1100 employees, 93% of whom are in the Seattle area.
“We bet that this is the right relationship with our employees in the future,” said holly barbacovi, chief personnel officer of Bungie.
Barbacovi said that Bungie’s request to return to the office was wrong, which led to what she called “testing and learning methods”. Bungie has developed good tools to understand employees’ work, including a survey system to enable it to listen to employees, new employees and recruiters.
“I don’t think anyone can find all the answers now, but the fact is that our relationship with work has changed irreversibly due to this pandemic. We must try this new balance,” balbacovi said
Bungie has hired the first staff for its first international office in Amsterdam and is currently deciding how to use the office.
“We feel we can continue to play ultra-high quality games with increasingly remote staff,” barbacovi said.