Sony’s gaming division is bleeding money. The publisher’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie in 2022 has turned into a financial disaster, racking up nearly $770 million in impairment charges across 2025 and 2026. Because of this deficit, Bungie is now preparing for significant layoffs. The studio is officially ending active development and live-service updates for Destiny 2 this June, and the highly anticipated Destiny 3 is not in development.
Sony absorbed a 31.5 billion yen (approximately $204 million) impairment charge in 2025 due to a rapidly shrinking Destiny 2 player base. Things worsened in 2026. The publisher recorded an additional 88.6 billion yen ($565 million) loss connected to the weak sales of Marathon earlier this year, according to a timeline of Sony’s financial impairment charges. This sustained financial strain forced the current restructuring.
To stop the bleeding, Bungie is shifting its remaining staff to support Marathon. While developers pitched new projects set in the Destiny universe, Sony executives refused to greenlight them in the current economic climate, opting instead to cancel Destiny 3 and pivot to Marathon.
The community fallout is immediate. Former Destiny 2 game director Joe Blackburn voiced his thoughts on X. “Destiny made a mark on me as a player first. Getting a chance to work in that world is an honor I’ll never fully be able to repay,” he said, reflecting the broader community response to the franchise’s suspension.
Why the Bungie Crisis Mirrors the Closure of Bluepoint
The looming layoffs and corporate restructuring have sparked community fears that Bungie could face total closure. This draws a direct historical parallel to Sony’s sudden decision to shut down first-party studio Bluepoint earlier this year without releasing a single original game under the PlayStation banner.
Sony is aggressively unwinding its expensive live-service investments. The company is no longer willing to fund underperforming studios, even those with legacy prestige. With Destiny 3 off the table and the studio’s entire focus resting on the struggling Marathon property, Bungie’s long-term survival within the PlayStation ecosystem looks increasingly precarious.