As Destiny 2 gears up for the end of its live-service updates and as employees reportedly brace for layoffs, one former Bungie worker involved in its acquisition fears the storied developer is becoming a mere "publishing imprint" under Sony's ownership.
Sony Interactive Entertainment bought the iconic developer behind Destiny, Halo, and Marathon in 2022, but things haven't been smooth sailing since then. The developer laid off around 200 staff members in 2023 and Sony just reported a $765 impairment loss on the studio.
Things took a slightly bleaker turn this week as Bungie announced that "active development" on Destiny 2 will be over once a final update drops on June 9, though the MMO FPS will remain playable after. A Bloomberg report then claimed Destiny 3 isn't in active development and layoffs are expected for the devs who don't get moved on to Marathon.
Now, Bungie's former General Counsel, Don McGowan, who helped run the company's $3.6 billion buyout says everything he was worried about with the sale is coming true. "I'm not happy to see what has become of one of the most famous studios in gaming, and I wish I could have done more to keep it alive," he writes in a recent LinkedIn post. "It's now becoming what I feared after the Sony acquisition: a publishing imprint that may also make a game every now and then, but not a builder of worlds."
"Life goes on, but we can spare ourselves a moment to wish sometimes it didn't. I was never a huge fan of D2. I’m not a great fan of FPS gaming, and I found the lore needlessly complex and never properly explained for new players. But not everything is for everyone. For a lot of people D2 was their life. It helped a lot of people get through COVID lockdowns. And, of course, it changed the games industry in hundreds of ways that echo today and on into the future... on a more LI note, I really hope this doesn't mean a few thousand people lose their jobs…" Hear, hear.
