Bungie Layoffs Spark Doubts Over Destiny 3’s Chances and Timeline
I’ve logged thousands of hours in Destiny 2, and after Bungie’s June 25 layoffs, it’s becoming hard to shake the sense that Destiny 3—if it ever arrives—doesn’t have the same runway it once seemed to. Even after years of frustration, burnout, and stretches where I kept thinking I’d rather be playing something else, I still can’t point to another shooter that quite captures what Destiny does. Bungie’s gunfeel has always been the franchise’s last strong card when everything else starts wobbling, which is why these cuts—more than even Destiny 2’s final update—feel like the series has finally tipped into a definitive end.
Destiny 2’s last release, Monument of Triumph, already read like a farewell, yet there was still a part of me that wanted to believe it was opening the door to something new. Bungie’s own closing message insisted that Destiny needed to continue past Destiny 2. For me and a lot of players, that wording created just enough breathing space to keep coping—holding out hope that Destiny 3 or another major Destiny project could eventually happen. But with reports suggesting most of the Destiny team was impacted by the cuts, with future work still described as being in early stages, and with earlier reports that Destiny 3 wasn’t in active development, that hope now feels like wishful thinking rather than a plan.
Shaxx apparently turned up in 007 First Light, and now Greenway has followed me back into Destiny 2—right at the worst possible moment.
Destiny 2’s Final Update Made Destiny 3 Feel Like It Could Still Happen
For a while, Monument of Triumph made it almost possible to dream again. Instead of fading away quietly, Bungie delivered one of the biggest, most transformative Destiny 2 updates in the game’s history—so much so that Steam player counts were reportedly setting records for weeks straight. The reason it hit so hard wasn’t just the content itself; it was the surge of quality-of-life improvements that arrived once Bungie finally opened the floodgates on requests players had been making for a long time. Many people, I think, were willing to stick around at least for the near future, even if the whole thing carried a bittersweet weight. It’s hard to explain how meaningful it felt—one of the strongest “this is what games can do” moments I’ve experienced in years.
Guess the games from the emojis.
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Guess the game from the emojis.
Just as important, Bungie’s official send-off language left a narrow gap for optimism. The message said Destiny needed to live beyond Destiny 2, spoke about a “new beginning,” and promised players would hear more once there was more to share about Destiny. These lines may not have been Destiny 3 teases in a literal, concrete sense—but for a community used to reading the quiet between lore entries, post-credit moments, and odd phrasing in TWIDs, it was enough to wonder if everything might culminate in some sort of massive June April Fool’s joke.
For a while, Monument of Triumph made it almost possible to dream again.
I wanted to believe there was a bigger plan behind the silence. Maybe Destiny 2 had to end so Bungie could stop trying to build the next chapter on top of a nine-year-old foundation. Maybe the final update was the necessary last act before something steadier could begin. That was the story I kept telling myself, even if it sounded unreasonable. The issue is that dreams require builders—and after these layoffs, it’s much harder to look at Bungie and imagine a hidden Destiny 3 effort starting up behind the curtain.
Losing the Destiny Team Makes the Dream Feel Almost Impossible
The worst part isn’t only that layoffs happened. Job cuts are always brutal, and the human impact should be the first thing anyone thinks about. People who helped create the moments fans are grieving are now losing their dream roles. Any conversation about a game sequel has to treat that as more than just another line in a business update.
Even so, it’s difficult to ignore what these layoffs likely mean for Destiny’s future. Sony stated that the layoffs affect a significant number of workers, including most of the Destiny team. Bungie also said Destiny 2 didn’t meet expectations during recent years, and that after the final content update, its upcoming projects remain in early incubation. To me, that doesn’t sound like a studio gearing up to reveal—or even start—work on Destiny 3. It sounds more like a team trying to survive the end of Destiny 2 so it can move on to Marathon with the staff that remains.
The reported exit of studio head Justin Truman makes the situation feel even more final. Leadership transitions are complicated, and it’s not worth pretending one executive alone controls the fate of a franchise this large. Still, when a major layoff hits the Destiny group at the same time as a studio head departure, players who were still hoping Bungie had one more big Destiny swing left can’t help but read it as a clear emotional message.
Layoffs are always brutal no matter what, and the human cost of cuts like this should be the first thing anyone thinks about.
For me, the most painful part is imagining the people who made Destiny feel like Destiny. If reports and public posts from former developers are anything to go by, this “restructuring”—if we even want to use that label—has landed hardest on the staff responsible for the Destiny 2 sandbox. When ex-developers talk publicly about searching for new studios where they can help bring shooting and looting up to modern expectations, it highlights what the industry stands to lose from Bungie.
If the people who truly understood the game’s core are gone—or if the Destiny team has been hollowed out—then Destiny 3 starts to feel like a topic fans will discuss the way they talk about games that never really existed. It turns into a “what if” instead of a “when.” It becomes a corridor Bungie may never walk down, and likely won’t.
Destiny 3’s Chances Are Immensely Slim
That said, I still want to be wrong. I’d love to wake up one day to Bungie announcing a focused, ambitious Destiny 3 that honors what players loved while leaving behind what Destiny 2 couldn’t fix. I’d love to think Monument of Triumph was the end of one Destiny era—not the end of Destiny as something that can live and evolve. But right now, the path forward doesn’t look clear.
Bungie is pushing ahead with Marathon, future projects are still at an early stage, and the people who carried Destiny 2 through its final years are being dispersed across the industry. There may still be a thing called Destiny at some point, but Destiny 3, as we all pictured it, feels farther away than it ever has.
After these layoffs, saying Destiny 3 seems unlikely feels like the understatement of the century. Instead of “maybe,” it looks like the dream of a community still trying to process the end of one of the most important looter shooters ever made. Monument of Triumph gave players a chance to say goodbye to Destiny 2, but the layoffs make it feel like we may also be saying goodbye to the only team that could have built a real future for it.
