The “vast majority” of Bungie staff was reportedly unaware of the plans to discontinue support for Destiny 2 until the announcement was made public last week.
The alleged insight into the goings-on at the former Halo developer came from a Forbes report and followed last week’s news that it would publish one final content update next month, June 9. It was an announcement that shook an industry that had watched the studio launch its latest project, Marathon, just months ago, and it apparently came as a surprise to many of the very developers it involved, too.
The site stated that, according to its sources, the “vast majority of Bungie did not know about Destiny 2 support being dropped right up until it was publicly announced.” The limited number of teams privy to the information beforehand included some that had already begun working on the final content and others who had already transitioned over to Marathon.
A decision to end support for Destiny is said to have been made “earlier this year,” with the rest of the team left to continue working on future updates like the now-canceled The Shattered Cycle content. The exact number of staff who only learned about the shift upon its public announcement is unclear, but Forbes’ sources say the few who were aware of the impending changes “begged” leadership to tell more people at the studio.
A Bloomberg report that emerged in the fallout of the Destiny 2 news added that Bungie was “planning a significant number of layoffs” and had no immediate plans to begin work on Destiny 3. The Forbes report added that staff asked leadership about layoffs during a post-announcement town hall but failed to receive a sufficient response.
For now, Bungie seems to be pouring many of its remaining resources into Marathon. The studio has officially confirmed it has plans to launch a PvE mode, alongside a host of other big updates, in the future. Meanwhile, the new extraction shooter was estimated to have sold 1.2 million copies by March 24, according to a report by Alinea Analytics.
Just weeks ago, Sony reported a $765 million impairment loss due to the developer’s underperformance during its last financial year. The PlayStation maker acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022.
As Bungie winds down Destiny 2 and hopes to find stable ground with Marathon, fans are doing what they can to enjoy the developer’s work. A petition calling on Sony to greenlight Destiny 3 has already sprouted in the last few days and, at the time of this piece’s publication, has amassed more than 200,000 signatures.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
