Everyone saw this coming when Bungie announced that Destiny 2’s content was ending, and today the studio made it official. In a public statement, Bungie confirmed it’s laying off staff as part of a reorganization, acknowledging that Destiny 2 “fell short of expectations these past several years.” With its final content update out the door and its future projects still in early incubation, the studio said it could no longer operate at its previous size.
The scope of the cuts came into focus through an internal memo from Hermen Hulst, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Studio Business Group, which oversees Bungie. According to the memo, the reduction affects a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some members of the Marathon team, along with cuts across the Sony Interactive Entertainment teams that support Bungie’s operations. Hulst said affected staff at both Bungie and within Sony were being notified today, and that the decision followed months of reviewing the studio’s direction, priorities, and place in Sony’s broader portfolio.
The layoffs cap a difficult financial stretch for Bungie that we’ve been covering on the site. Sony’s FY25 results included a roughly $797 million impairment loss tied to Bungie, with most of it booked in the quarter right after Marathon launched on March 5. Marathon’s player numbers never recovered. Bungie spent the months after launch patching the game and reworking its systems, including a Season 2 reset, while Destiny 2 received its final live-service content update on June 9.
As for what’s left, Hulst said Marathon remains part of Sony’s portfolio and that the company will keep supporting the team as it builds on its first two seasons and works on early incubation for future projects. Bungie’s public statement struck a similar note, promising to share more about its plans later while stressing that “today is not that day.” Sony said its immediate focus is supporting affected employees through the transition, including trying to place people elsewhere across its network of studios where possible.
Bungie hasn’t said exactly how many roles are being eliminated, only that most of the Destiny team is among them and that more about the studio’s future is coming down the line. What that future looks like, and how much of Bungie is left to build it, remains up in the air.
