Starting a new job can be an exciting time, especially if you are a game developer who has finally landed a spot at a major game studio. For Bungie employees, new members of the development team are lucky enough to receive some pretty impressive swag, in the form of a sword. New Bungie devs have been showing off their weapons on Twitter, in a series of images that herald the coming of Bungie Day on July 7.
Bungie Day has been celebrated by the developer since July of 2007 (7/7/07) and has been observed each year since then to mark the studio's long-standing use of the number seven in its games. While some mentions of the number appeared as early as Bungie's Marathon series, most of the references come from the Halo franchise, with notable examples being that there are seven Halo rings and Master Chief's Spartan number is 117. 343 Industries, who have taken over Halo's development, also use a multiple of seven in their name, taken from the character 343 Guilty Spark from the franchise.
Developers at Bungie have been known to earn amazing loot from the studio since the days of Halo 3, where staff would be adorned with a flaming helmet when entering the game's multiplayer. This was a big point of pride for staff members at Bungie, and it cemented the phrase "Get hired, get fire!" as a part of the studio's marketing for attracting new developers to the team. It seems that for new developers in 2020 and 2021, a real-life sword carved from wood is one of the ways that Bungie staff are rewarded, with the year of their arrival at the studio engraved in the hilt, along with the endearing "Bungie n00b" written below.
Those who received their medieval swag a few days before Bungie Day posted up images of mock sword fights and poses to Twitter. Associate Environment Artist, Ian Melinn stated that an image of him holding two crossed swords was what "peak Bungie performance looks like," while Senior Designer, Mike Profeta, showed off his sword against a backdrop of various other Bungie memorabilia. Some of the swords were marked for 2020, indicating that many were likely just receiving their swords from last year, perhaps due to the pandemic forcing Bungie to alter its development process.
Bungie's continued celebration of its staff is a great thing to see, and it certainly helps to sell the notion of game development as a fun environment that is immersed in the creativity of the products being made. This is a welcome reminder, given the recent tumult surrounding concepts like crunch, and the chaotic development cycle of games like Cyberpunk 2077. It is also a great way to lead up to Bungie Day, which often comes with Destiny 2 updates and sales on the Bungie store helping players earn real life swag, as well as children in need receiving a portion of the funds via the Bungie Foundation.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.