Bungie announced on its site today that much of its staff will start working remotely due to concerns with the coronavirus outbreak. Bungie is acting out of an abundance of caution in response to an increasing number of cases popping up in the Seattle area, near the company headquarters. There are no delays in the development of upcoming content at this time.
Bungie explained in the announcement that developers will continue working on upcoming Destiny 2 updates and continue developing the game in spite of the growing health crisis. “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,” Bungie wrote in the post.
As of now the Season of the Worthy set to release on March 10 and the Trials of Osiris set to release on March 13 are both still on schedule. Bungie will re-integrate their staff into their local offices when the coronavirus threat has passed.
In preparation for the shift in the working environment, the company created a remote work infrastructure for developers and staff to continue working while minimizing possible exposure to COVID-19.
With the coronavirus spreading around the world, Bungie is just the latest in a growing number of companies that are trying to stay proactive in preventing the spread among their customers and employees. As part of this proactive mindset, Mojang announced earlier today that they are postponing the Minecraft Festival until next year.
Take Two Interactive has also considered moving to a remote working environment to protect its employees, according to its CEO Strauss Zelnick. “Actually, I think one of the things that may come out of this if it’s as widespread as I believe it will be, one unexpected consequence is a lot of us who were skeptical about remote work are going to be less skeptical about it,” Zelnick said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference today. “I’m one of them by the way. I’m not a big believer in remote work. But I think I may be surprised.”
