Luis Villegas, who has been with Bungie for fourteen years and served as the Chief Technology Officer since December 2020, has recently departed the company. He has now taken on the role of “CTO for the content vertical” at Sony PlayStation.
Villegas shared the news on his LinkedIn profile earlier today, announcing the new position at PlayStation. “I am super excited to announce that I have taken a role at PlayStation as the Head of Technology, Creative, and Services,” Villegas said in a post.
Related: Destiny Animated Series Reportedly Scrapped in Bungie-Netflix Partnership Pre-Sony Buyout
“In my new role I will be PlayStation’s CTO for the content vertical, and will support the amazing teams that make PlayStation games best in class. I feel incredibly lucky because as part of my new role I get to still work closely with my Bungie family.
“I wanted to thank all my Bungie friends and the leadership for supporting me as I embark in a new adventure and to the great people at PlayStation for the warm welcome over the last few weeks.”
Bungie CTO Leaves Company, Joins Sony PlayStation
Bungie veteran, Villegas began his career at Bungie in October 2003 as a Software Engineer. After spending four years at the company and contributing to the development of multiple Halo projects, Villegas moved to Electronic Arts, where he worked from 2008 to 2009. Subsequently, in 2009, Villegas returned to Bungie as a Software Engineer and has remained with the company since then.
Last year, IGN’s Rebekah Valentine reported that Bungie’s current board of directors is divided between Sony and Bungie representatives. The board includes SIE’s Studio Business Group soon-to-be CEO Hermen Hulst, Sony’s senior VP Eric Lempel, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones, Bungie CTO Luis Villegas, and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, who serves as a tiebreaker vote.
The report also mentioned concerns among employees about a potential complete takeover by Sony, following layoffs in October 2023.
“Multiple current and former Bungie employees described a department meeting that took place shortly after the layoffs, in which leaders hinted that this shared power may not last forever,” IGN’s report states.
This isn’t the first time someone from Bungie’s leadership has joined Sony. Just over a month ago, Bungie’s now-former Director of Revenue and Product Management, Jaremy Rich, made a similar leap to Sony. He stepped into the role of Head of Product Management for Sony Interactive Entertainment‘s live service games.
“After 7.5 amazing years at Bungie, I’m embarking on a new adventure. I’m joining Sony Interactive Entertainment as the Head of Product Management for Live Service Games,” said Rich in a post on his LinkedIn profile. “Luckily, with this change, I still get to work with many of the talented folks at Bungie still.”
Destiny 2 The Final Shape is set to launch on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
