This would be the third major round of layoffs since Sony acquired the studio three years ago – a bad omen.

After Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2 development, Bloomberg reported that the studio is preparing for significant staff cuts. There is currently no new game project to which these employees could be reassigned; even Destiny 3 is not in active development. This contradicts rumors from late 2025 that the next game in the series was in the early stages of development. It’s sad news for the millions of players who love the sci-fi universe created by the studio, but it isn’t the end.

Bungie plans to pitch new game concepts to Sony, including ones within the Destiny IP. They’ve even mentioned in official news that they’re starting to “incubate” projects, but there’s no guarantee that any of them will be released, especially in a challenging economic environment. The situation isn’t helped by the fact that the studio’s operating costs are high. As these new plans move forward, the studio will work hard to develop and expand Marathon, a game that hasn’t found a wide audience yet.

This will be the third round of layoffs at Bungie since Sony acquired the company for $3.6 billion. In October 2023, approximately 100 employees were laid off, and two game projects were postponed. Then, in July 2024, an additional 220 employees were laid off, representing about 17% of the studio’s total workforce at the time. Another 155 positions were transferred to Sony Interactive Entertainment instead of being eliminated. These moves reduced Bungie’s headcount from approximately 1,200 to 850 employees, a 40% reduction in under a year. At the time, CEO Pete Parsons acknowledged that the studio’s expansion plans had been overly ambitious. Parsons ultimately left Bungie last August. He was replaced by Justin Truman.

Sony’s latest financial report revealed that the company had to record an $800 million impairment charge. This acknowledges that Bungie’s value is lower than originally estimated.

Source: WCCFTech, Bloomberg