Halo and Destiny developer Bungie is one of the most acclaimed shooter studios in the game industry, but the company also has a reputation for “crunch” on its projects. For Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto, this culture was a factor in his decision to ultimately leave the studio.
Speaking in a roundtable interview withGameSpot, Lehto explained that Bungie’s crunch periods could last for several months, and this burnout played a role in his decision to ultimately leave the studio. He subsequently founded V1, which is working on the original shooter gameDisintegrationat the moment. The studio limits extended working hours to around one week at a time in order to mitigate mental and physical stress.
“We don’t want to experience [crunch]. We don’t want to replicate that at all again,” Lehto added in the interview. “So at V1, one of our primary goals with the studio is making sure that we create an atmosphere where everybody is intimately involved with what we’re working on, so there is a lot of responsibility on everybody’s shoulders. And everybody wears several hats.”
Digital Trends has reached out to Bungie for comment on its current studio culture, and if crunch has been reduced more recently.
Lehto wasinvolved at Bungieup through the firstDestinygame’s early development. As recently as last June,Bungie announcedit was delaying a patch inDestiny 2in order to help preserve a work-life balance for its development staff. The expansionDestiny 2: Shadowkeepalso experienced a slight delay before its launch on June 23, 2025.
Within the last week, developer CD Projekt Red has also come under fire for its plan to crunch while finishingCyberpunk 2077. Thedecision was revealedby CEO Adam Kiciński less than a year after the studio claimed it would never crunch on the game.Other high-profile studioswho have been accused of crunch include NetherRealm, the now-defunct Telltale Games, Rockstar Games, Epic Games, and Treyarch. Treyarch, which is owned by former Bungie partner Activision, reportedly had contracted quality assurance testers working 70 hours per week in the year leading up toCall of Duty: Black Ops 4‘s release.
