Destiny 2's active development is officially coming to a close, and the news just gets worse as it's reported that Destiny 3 isn't in development, and layoffs are planned at Bungie after the game's final update next month.
That's according to a Bloomberg report, via individuals allegedly familiar with Bungie's plans. It's claimed that – aside from the ongoing support for its latest FPS game Marathon – Bungie doesn't have another new project currently lined up, with no plans to immediately start production on Destiny 3 (which, clearly, isn't already ongoing). It's claimed that Bungie devs are looking to both pitch and start developing new projects (apparently, projects in the Destiny franchise are included in this), but as of now, none have actually been approved, nor is it a certain thing that any will.
What's worse is the alleged layoffs being planned at Bungie as Destiny 2's development comes to an end. While it's reported that the number of layoffs planned isn't known, the number is described as significant.
Things haven't been looking fantastic for Bungie for a while now. Earlier this month, Sony's results for the last financial year (ended at the end of March) revealed that it had taken "impairment losses" of around $765 million against Bungie's "intangible and other assets" over the course of the year. Obviously, that's not good, especially when Sony spent $3.6 billion to acquire it in 2022. At the time, Destiny 2 fans were seriously worried about the future of the game, and it's sad to see that their fears weren't unfounded.
It's fair to say that Bungie's latest game, Marathon, hasn't been an immediate hit, either. While it'd be unfair to call it a Concord or Highguard situation, Bloomberg now reports that it hasn't met sales expectations, but claims that Bungie is looking to invest more into it, so the devs aren't giving up on it. Some Destiny 2 staffers have apparently already recently been shifted over to work on Marathon with Marathon Season 2 just around the corner as well.
For now, we'll just have to see how the situation unfolds, but there's no way to dress it up – it's pretty grim.
