Video game company Bungie will reportedly undergo a “significant number” of layoffs as it winds down work on its longstanding free-to-play FPS, Destiny 2. Word of the studio’s impending cuts, first reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, follows confirmation that its June 9 Destiny 2 update will be its last, and comes from unidentified sources who “weren’t authorized to speak to press.”
“For almost twelve years, we have had the joy and honor to explore the Destiny universe with you all,” reads Bungie’s Destiny 2 announcement, published on Thursday. “Through all the ups and downs, surprises and triumphs, building Destiny alongside our players has been a monumental privilege. While our love for Destiny 2 has not changed, it has become clear that after The Final Shape, we have reached the time for our shared worlds, and Destiny, to live beyond Destiny 2.”
“As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.”
In its message, Bungie confirmed Destiny 2 will remain playable despite no further development. “Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today.”
“Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to.”
There’s no work on the horizon for Destiny 2‘s dev team, say Schreier’s unnamed sources, despite staff’s continually quashed efforts to pitch new projects.
About Bungie’s sci-fi shooter, ‘Destiny 2’
Bungie‘s Destiny franchise kicked off in 2014 and quickly became the gold standard for live-service titles. The studio launched the sequel, Destiny 2, in 2017, ultimately deciding to flesh it out rather than introduce a third entry. Destiny 2 became free-to-play in 2019.
Player interest has waned since, with the game’s June 2024 expansion, Destiny 2: The Final Shape, being the proverbial nail in the coffin. Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate, another decent-sized expansion, launched in July 2025 to mostly negative sentiment. On Steam, the expansion has a “Mostly Negative” English-language review average, based on feedback from nearly 2,000 users. Unsurprisingly, the slump worsened.
In an interview with IGN last November, game director Tyson Green confessed that Destiny 2 struggled to retain players following The Edge of Fate‘s rocky release. “The Final Shape brought things to a crescendo, where it’s like a fantastic ending that tied off a lot of the threads,” Green told IGN. “People were pleased and satisfied with what they played, and then the big [downwards] spike in population [came after]. That happened because we ended the saga. So you get what you pay for, right?”
About ‘Destiny 2,’ ‘Marathon’ studio Bungie
Washington state-based video game studio Bungie, first established in Spring 1991, focused primarily on Macintosh titles in its early years. In late 1994, the studio released sci-fi shooter Marathon, which quickly became a critical and commercial success. Bungie released follow-ups to the hit FPS shortly after: Marathon 2: Durandal launched for Macintosh on November 24, 1995, and a third entry, Marathon Infinity, launched on October 15, 1996.
Bungie has been a Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) subsidiary for nearly five years; SIE acquired the label for an eye-watering $3.6 billion in January 2022. One year later, the studio kicked off its first of several layoff rounds by terminating around 100 team members. In Summer 2024, Bungie laid off an additional 220 staffers.
If Marathon sounds familiar, it should: Bungie released a co-op reboot of the science-fiction FPS for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on March 5th, 2026, though the contemporary extraction shooter wasn’t as well-received as its predecessors upon launch. According to Schreier, Bungie is investing more in Marathon despite it not meeting sales expectations since its March release, and has “moved some staff from the Destiny team to Marathon in recent months.”
Destiny 2‘s final content update, “Monument of Triumph,” will be available on June 9, 2026, for all players.
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