The breakdown
Bungie made it official on June 25, 2026: the studio is conducting a "reduction in force" as it reorganizes. The announcement came quietly — a brief statement on social media with no headcount figures, no severance details, just the acknowledgment that "Destiny 2 fell short of expectations" and the studio cannot continue at its current size. Reports from French journalist Sylvain Trinel suggest the cuts could hit close to 400 people — roughly half of what remains of the workforce.
PlayStation CEO Hermen Hulst broke his own silence with a follow-up statement, confirming the cuts are "significant" and will hit most of the Destiny team — whose job effectively ended with Destiny 2's final content update on June 9 — along with some Marathon team members and SIE support staff embedded at Bungie. Sony says it will continue supporting the studio as it builds more Marathon content.
The Destiny Team's Chapter Is Over
This is Bungie's third wave of layoffs since Sony acquired the studio in 2022. The math is simple and brutal: Destiny 2 is done, so the team built to support it no longer has a job. These are people who kept a live-service game running for nearly a decade. Losing most of them in one cut is a gut punch, regardless of what the business case looks like on paper.
Marathon Carries the Weight Now
Marathon has launched and built two seasons of content, and Sony is betting everything remaining on it. A smaller Bungie that is fully focused on Marathon is the plan — whether that plan has enough people left standing to execute it is the real question. Some Marathon staff were caught in the cuts too, which does not inspire confidence.
What This Means for Bungie's Future
Sony paid $3.6 billion for Bungie in 2022. Destiny 2, the asset that justified that price, underdelivered. The studio has now shed hundreds of employees across three separate rounds of cuts. PlayStation itself has been tightening across its portfolio — studios closed, projects cancelled, costs cut. Bungie is not uniquely cursed here; it is caught in the same wave sweeping the entire industry. But its history, its name, and the people walking out the door today deserve better than a line item in a corporate restructuring announcement.
“The gaming world is better with Bungie in it. We just hope closure is not anywhere near their minds.”