Bungie does not plan to immediately enter production on Destiny 3, and is preparing a significant round of layoffs as it winds down content support for Destiny 2 in June – as reported by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. Schreier writes that the studio “doesn’t plan to immediately enter production on a Destiny 3” and currently has no fresh project lined up for the Destiny 2 team once development closes out next month. Some staff have already been reassigned to Marathon, while others are being asked to pitch new projects – some set in the Destiny universe, some potentially new IP entirely.
Here’s the context: Bungie has been in structural freefall for the better part of two years. Sony acquired the studio for $3.6 billion in 2022, betting it could anchor PlayStation‘s push into the live service market. That bet has not paid off. Sony has now taken a staggering $765 million in write-downs against the Bungie acquisition – a figure we covered in depth when Sony recorded a $560 million impairment charge against Bungie in Q4 of fiscal year 2025 alone. Before that, Bungie cut roughly 8% of its workforce – around 100 people – in October 2023, dropping headcount from approximately 1,200 to 1,100, with community, publishing, and QA hit hardest. Destiny 2‘s The Final Shape expansion shipped in 2024 as the intended conclusion to the Light and Darkness saga, but rather than setting up the next chapter, it appears to have marked the end of the road. Meanwhile, an internal Destiny project reportedly codenamed Payback – widely understood to be the “next Destiny” – has been shelved indefinitely, per recent commentary from journalist Jeff Grubb. The broader Sony live service initiative, once targeting 10 games by FY2025, has quietly collapsed to a single standout: Helldivers 2.
Honestly, what this report describes is the slow-motion unwinding of one of gaming’s most expensive miscalculations. Sony paid $3.6 billion for a studio whose flagship franchise is now entering maintenance mode with no confirmed successor, whose live service pivot project Marathon is being propped up by redirected Destiny 2 staff after failing to meet internal targets, and whose next wave of projects are still at pitch stage with no greenlight. That’s not a restructuring – that’s a studio being quietly disassembled and reassembled under duress. The human cost is real too: another wave of “significant” layoffs on top of an already-reduced workforce means more developers out of work, many of whom built Destiny 2 into a nine-year live service. As we noted covering Marathon’s ongoing pivot attempts, there’s a pattern here of reactive decision-making rather than strategic vision. And with Sony‘s live service struggles running deeper than just Bungie, the studio isn’t just fighting for its own future – it’s fighting to justify a $3.6 billion line item on PlayStation‘s balance sheet.
What remains unclear is the actual scale and timing of the incoming layoffs – Schreier‘s report confirms they are planned and described as “significant,” but the total headcount figure has not been disclosed. It’s also unconfirmed whether Destiny 3 is dead entirely or simply not greenlit yet, and Sony has made no public statement on the restructuring. The next real signal will likely come from Sony‘s upcoming earnings calls and any formal PlayStation Studios update, where revised expectations for Bungie‘s output – and Marathon‘s commercial viability – will be hard to avoid addressing.
Is this the end of Destiny as a live franchise, or do you think a future entry could still resurrect the series under the right conditions? And does Sony‘s handling of the Bungie acquisition change how you feel about PlayStation‘s live service ambitions going forward? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news and Bungie coverage.
