Late in May, Bungie announced it was officially sunsetting Destiny 2, cancelling any upcoming planned expansions, releasing a final update, and putting the game into “maintenance mode.” But as it turns out, that was close to happening quite a while ago, with the Sony deal essentially saving the studio as a whole.
“Bungie was below the red line before the Sony acquisition,” says Lianna Ruppert on social media. “If it wasn’t acquired right then, the studio was very close to shutting its doors at the very least on Destiny. It was an emergency acquisition.”
Ruppert previously worked as a Community Manager for Bungie and on accessibility. She was let go in October 2023, along with many other employees, as part of a studio-wide reduction in force.
It’s important to note that a few years before the Sony acquisition, Bungie had split from its parent company, Activision, and largely self-funded Destiny 2. That had to be a monumental and costly undertaking, and Destiny 2 wasn’t exactly a smash hit upon release. It gained a lot of traction over time, but struggled out of the gate. Sony would then purchase Bungie for roughly $3.6 billion in 2022.
“Big shakeups are happening in the tech and gaming space – I’m not going to say what I think is going to happen because it really doesn’t matter what I think to be honest, but I still see the community from the CM lens and the Marathon community is eating good,” Ruppert continues, “Just remember how everything caught you by surprise, it’s a humble reminder that the public really does have no idea what’s going on (this applies to all studios).”
Alongside its recent financials, Sony stated that Bungie recorded $766 million in losses for the company. But around the same time, Bungie committed to Marathon, saying the studio was “in it for the long haul.”
Destiny 2’s final update happened on June 9. At this point, it’s unclear what the future of the franchise looks like, or if there will ever be a Destiny 3.
