Bungie Confirms Layoffs as Destiny 2’s Live-Service Era Moves Into Maintenance
Bungie has confirmed a major round of layoffs, describing the move as a “reduction in force” tied to a wider restructuring. The news lands as the studio’s long-running live-service era around Destiny 2 appears to be winding down, following its last content drop.
Rumors about cuts were already circulating last week after French journalist Sylvain Trinel claimed Sony was preparing a significant wave of job reductions, with Bungie potentially losing a large share of its workforce. That speculation now looks to have been accurate.
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hermen Hulst also addressed the changes in a statement posted on Sony’s website, saying the layoffs will impact “most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members,” along with staff in SIE groups that support Bungie’s operations.
The company’s message further indicates that affected employees may receive help relocating into other positions, departments, or companies within SIE.
Bungie confirms layoffs after Destiny 2’s final content update
In its own announcement, Bungie was unusually direct. The studio stated, “As the leaders of Bungie, past and present, we recognise Destiny 2 fell short of expectations these past several years,” and added that “Following our final content update to Destiny 2, and with our future projects still in early incubation, we unfortunately could not continue operating at our previous size.“
The studio’s closing line says it will eventually share additional details about what comes next, but “today is not that day.“
These layoffs arrive amid fresh context from Sony’s financial reporting. Sony’s gaming segment has taken a substantial hit, with the decline tied to Bungie’s performance after Sony acquired the studio a few years earlier. Sony has also reported a large impairment charge against Bungie’s asset value, as reflected in its recent filings.
The situation has reportedly been building for years. Bungie previously trimmed about 100 roles in October 2023, then cut another 220 jobs in July 2024. With today’s announcement, this marks the third major wave of reductions since Sony finished its acquisition. Sony’s filings also describe a combined impairment loss of $765 million across FY2025, broken into roughly $201 million linked to Destiny 2’s underperformance and an additional $565 million following Marathon’s comparatively weak results after its March 2026 release from a development-cost standpoint.
Even though Bungie’s messaging suggests there may be a path forward for Marathon, the studio stopped Destiny 2 live service last month.
On LinkedIn, posts from workers appear to be starting already, with early activity coming from roles such as Narrative Designers, VFX Artists and Leads, QA staff, UI and UX teams, and other departments. A quick scan of those updates indicates which parts of the organization have been affected.
Today’s news also follows other industry job cuts. Compulsion Games employees shared that they were laid off as part of Xbox’s reset period taking effect. That studio, too, cited ongoing financial strain as the reason it could not continue operating in its current form.
Compulsion and Bungie are facing overlapping pressures, but not identical causes, with both companies experiencing the kind of cost and performance problems that are driving layoffs across the broader games industry.
What Bungie says about the layoffs
- The studio frames the move as a “reduction in force” within a broader reorganization.
- Bungie points to Destiny 2 falling short of expectations in recent years.
- Bungie says it could not maintain its previous size after its final Destiny 2 content update, while future projects remain early in development.
- Sony says the impact includes most of the Destiny team, some Marathon staff, and SIE teams that support Bungie’s operations.
- Support may be offered to help affected employees transfer into other roles across SIE departments and companies.
How Sony describes the broader business pressure
- Sony’s gaming division recorded a major downturn, tied largely to Bungie’s declining performance after the acquisition.
- Sony reported a large impairment loss related to Bungie’s asset value in its recent stock filing documents.
- Earlier Bungie layoffs occurred in October 2023 (about 100 jobs) and July 2024 (about 220 jobs).
- Today’s round is presented as the third significant cut wave since Sony completed the acquisition.
- Sony’s FY2025 impairment totals were reported as $765 million, including a roughly $201 million write-down connected to Destiny 2 and about $565 million tied to Marathon after its March 2026 launch.
Other layoffs hitting the industry today
The Bungie news comes alongside additional cuts elsewhere. Compulsion Games staff said they were let go as part of Xbox’s reset era, with financial instability cited as the reason the studio could not continue in its current state. While both companies share the same general underlying pressures, the precise drivers differ.
About the writer
Craig Robinson is an experienced gaming and esports writer with nearly a decade of coverage experience since 2015. He has a background in software engineering and combines that perspective with journalistic work, including technical SEO and web development fundamentals. His interests include MMO games, competitive esports, and creating guides designed to help players get the most out of the titles they enjoy.
He has been covering gaming and esports for over 10 years, starting as a personal project during university. Since then, he has built his skills through newsroom coverage of major games and events, blending evergreen content planning with a practical understanding of content marketing. His work has appeared in Esports News UK, Gamer Guides, theEscpaist, and VideoGamer, and he now contributes to Gamehub’s review team. When he’s not writing, Robinson can often be found running, at the gym, or working on coding projects to keep his GitHub active.
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