Destiny 2 is going away, and with it a piece of Bungie’s heart and soul. That retirement will be followed by a very real cutting out of the studio’s heart and soul, its staff, when layoffs reportedly begin in next month.
I don’t think I have any great point to make with this piece. The news about Bungie and Destiny 2 is desperately sad and, if you’ll indulge me, I’m using the writing of this piece to work through my feelings about it.
According to Bloomberg, Bungie is planning “significant” layoffs after it sunsets Destiny 2 in June.
Here’s the statement on Destiny 2‘s retirement from Bungie:
For almost 12 years, we have had the joy and honor to explore the Destiny universe with you all. Through all the ups and downs, surprises and triumphs, building Destiny alongside our players has been a monumental privilege. While our love for Destiny 2 has not changed, it has become clear that after The Final Shape, we have reached the time for our shared worlds, and Destiny, to live beyond Destiny 2.
As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.
Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today. Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to.
We’re proud of Destiny 2, the places it took us, and the legacy it has created. Because of you all, our universe is vast, built on years of shared stories, adventures, and victories. From the Cosmodrome to the Pale Heart to the Lawless Frontier, we have forged life-long memories and friendships with you all.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who made that journey with us.
From the deepest part of our hearts, thank you, and we’ll see you in the stars.
According to Bloomberg’s reporting, there is no Destiny 3 in the works. It did say that Bungie had other ideas for games set in the Destiny universe and that some of them may come to fruition with time. For now, though, this is it.
This is a difficult pill to swallow. Bungie is a venerable studio, one that has produced successes so blinding that it has twice purchased its own freedom from impossibly huge publishers. It’s the studio that revolutionised the console shooter with Halo. and then ruled the live service space for over a decade.
Since its acquisition by Sony in 2022, Bungie has become a shadow of its former self. Round after round of redundancies have drastically cut its staff numbers, and now one of its two ongoing games will be wound up to save money, and even more of its remaining jobs lost.
It’s hard not to worry that Bungie is circling the drain. That Sony, who bought it to help fine tune its now greatly diminished live service ambitions, isn’t quite sure what to do with it.
For a studio with such a long and unique legacy, it deserves far better than the life it’s been consigned to.
For now, the studio’s attention is on Marathon. Released earlier in 2026 after a turbulent marketing campaign, Marathon has proven divisive. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the best game anyone has released this year or it is a solidly-made but deeply sweaty experience repellent to most.
For whatever it’s worth, I fall into the latter category. Marathon is a young person’s game. I’m too old and have too many day-to-day responsibilities to waste my evenings on a game about getting ganked over and over. Nothing against you if you’re into it, it’s just not my cup of tea.
But even the people that love Marathon will tell you that it isn’t going to have a tail like Destiny 2 did. Without the game that has become its satisfyingly-punchy, oddly-shaped, sometimes systemically oblique magnum opus, Bungie feels like half a studio.
And when the axe falls on the Destiny 2 team next month, it sounds like it truly will be.
