With all of the upheaval that affected Bungie in 2024, it’s pretty easy to have forgotten that one of the studio’s multiple incubation projects has been steadily moving through the development pipeline. That game in question is Project Gummy Bears, which has been described by insider sources reporting to The Game Post as a team vs. team MOBA with Smash Bros.-style gameplay and a “lo-fi cozy aesthetic.”
Word of this project was first shared in 2023, with initial details about the game’s cute characters and colorful visual style, and while Bungie didn’t outright share details about Gummy Bears, it did appear to reference its development in a tweet, calling it “a team-based action game [that] draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games, wrapped up in a lighthearted, comedic world.”
Then came the 2024 layoff round, which readers will recall closed down multiple projects and moved at least one project to an internal PlayStation studio. New insider reports now confirm that game is Gummy Bears, which reportedly has moved fairly further along in its now three years of development and has several ex-Bungie devs working on it.
Anonymous sources say Gummy Bears now has multiple game modes, three distinct class types (support, attack, and defense), a central hub where players can hang out pre-match, and combat where players build a percentage of damage that causes them to be flung off of the map (a la Smash Bros. or Divine Knockout) and where tower structures will be able to move, jump, and engage special abilities, according to a related March 2024 patent filing.
Gummy Bears is being called the “most fun” project yet by insiders and looks to be angling for a younger audience in general, but there are still no details on when the game will enter into testing or release. The fact that this project has been allowed to gestate for three years in spite of everything that has happened at Bungie is still pretty heartening and might mean that this one might cross the finish line.
