Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hermen Hulst announced that most of Bungie's Destiny 2 team is being laid off, confirming earlier rumors of at least 50% workforce cuts. Studio head Justin Truman is also stepping down, according to reports. The layoffs extend to members of the Marathon team and Sony's support studios that assisted Bungie's projects.
Layoffs follow end of Destiny 2 updates
Bungie recently announced that Destiny 2 would no longer receive updates, sparking rumors of significant job losses. Hulst's public email to employees, shared by Sony, detailed the decision: 'Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy. We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals.'
No exact figures have been provided, nor has Hulst specified which other studios are affected. However, a substantial number of employees are losing their jobs across multiple teams.
Bungie's future projects and Marathon
Hulst noted that Bungie has 'begun a new journey,' suggesting work on at least one new project. While support for Marathon will continue, the team is also focused on 'incubation efforts for future projects.' There are no plans for Destiny 3, leaving speculation about Bungie's next steps, which could range from a smaller-scale title to a support studio role for Sony's first-party live service games. Rumors of a MOBA codenamed Gummy Bears persist, but part of that workforce may have already been integrated into PlayStation Studios.
Destiny 2's decline and Sony's acquisition challenges
Destiny 2 experienced a sharp popularity drop in 2023, followed by layoffs. The Final Shape expansion in 2024 was received more positively but still failed to meet Sony's expectations, leading to further cuts. An anonymous Bungie source claimed the studio overpromised its capabilities when Sony acquired it for approximately £2.7 billion in 2022. Sony admitted last year that it was treating the acquisition as a loss. Bungie was brought in to bolster Sony's live service game plans, but those efforts have largely been abandoned after the failure of Concord.
In a morbid coincidence, deleting the '2' from the PlayStation Studios blog post URL about the Bungie layoffs redirects to Hulst's email announcing the closure of Concord developer Firewalk Studios and mobile developer Neon Koi. Some live service projects like Marathon and Guerrilla Games' Horizon Hunters Gathering spin-off continue, but many others have been quietly cancelled as Sony focuses on traditional single-player games like Insomniac's Wolverine.
