Reports suggest the “vast majority” of employees at Bungie did not know the studio intended to end support for Destiny 2 before the news broke publicly last week.
This information regarding internal matters at the studio formerly known for Halo originated from a piece published by Forbes. It arrived shortly after news emerged that a single content update would be released next month on June 9. The revelation unsettled the wider gaming sector, which had recently observed the developer release Marathon only a few months prior. Many of the creators involved in the project also found the decision unexpected.
According to the publication, insiders confirmed a specific detail regarding the staff knowledge.
The vast majority of Bungie did not know about Destiny 2 support being dropped right up until it was publicly announced.
Only a small group of teams knew in advance. This select few included members working on the last content pack and those who had already moved their focus to Marathon.
It is believed the choice to stop supporting Destiny was taken earlier this year. Meanwhile, the broader workforce continued developing scheduled updates such as The Shattered Cycle, which is now cancelled. While the precise count of employees who found out only during the public reveal remains unknown, sources tell Forbes that those who knew the changes were coming begged leadership to inform more staff members.
Following the Destiny 2 announcement, a separate story from Bloomberg indicated the company was
planning a significant number of layoffs
. That outlet also noted there were no immediate intentions to start development on Destiny 3. Additionally, the Forbes article mentioned that employees raised questions about job cuts during a town hall meeting after the news broke, yet they did not get a satisfactory answer from management.
Currently, the developer is directing most of its available resources toward Marathon. Bungie has officially stated intentions to release a player versus environment mode and several other major updates down the line. In terms of sales, the new extraction shooter reportedly moved 1.2 million copies by March 24 based on figures from Alinea Analytics.
Sony recently announced a financial impairment loss of $765 million linked to the developer’s poor performance in its last fiscal year. The PlayStation manufacturer originally purchased Bungie for $3.6 billion back in 2022.
While the studio reduces support for Destiny 2 and seeks stability with Marathon, supporters are trying to appreciate the existing work. A campaign urging Sony to approve Destiny 3 has appeared recently. At the time of writing, this initiative has gathered more than 200,000 signatures via Change.org.
