Destiny 2 and Marathon developer Bungie could lay off at least half of its current staff across the board, according to rumors circulating on social media. The news emerged just days after Destiny 2 launched its last major content update, which added the Monument of Triumph.
Earlier in 2026, Bungie shifted most of its current Destiny 2 developers onto Marathon. The move was made to ensure that Marathon would receive long-term support and additional content updates through 2026 and beyond. However, the move caused Destiny 2 players to blame Marathon as one of the main reasons for Destiny 2‘s fate. While Destiny 2 will no longer receive major content patches, Bungie stated that the game’s servers will remain online.
Bungie Expected to Lay Off At Least Half of its Employees
Although Destiny 2 experienced a high player count on Steam following its final update, it may not be enough to stave off some potential job cuts at Bungie. According to Sylvain Trinel of the French media outlet BFM TV, Bungie may reduce its permanent and contract staff count by at least 50% sometime this summer. The Bungie layoff rumor was corroborated by Paul Tassi of Forbes. Though Tassi did not commit to a percentage, he stated that the layoffs may be “significant” since Bungie does not have another new game project in development. Tassi stated that some of Bungie’s leadership could leave the studio in July, following the end of Sony’s current financial quarter on Tuesday, June 30.
The potential layoffs would not be the first time that Bungie has made some major staff cuts. In July 2024, Bungie laid off 220 staff members, including some personnel in executive and leadership roles. Bungie stated at the time that rising development costs and economic conditions forced the studio to make these changes. At the time, the July 2024 layoffs amounted to approximately 17% of Bungie’s staff. Ergo, the rumored layoffs slated to happen in the weeks ahead would be more severe than the 2024 job cuts.
Though the Monument of Triumph content update brought a significant number of Destiny 2 players back into the fold, the high Steam player count was not enough to dissuade Bungie from its current course with Destiny 2 and Marathon. As of this writing, neither Sony nor Bungie have publicly commented on the layoff reports. While fans should take rumors with a grain of salt, the fact that multiple reports indicated similar issues inside Bungie is something to pay attention to. Given that Bungie had approximately 850 staff members following the 2024 layoffs, it remains to be seen how many jobs could be lost soon.
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However, Bungie is not the only studio facing potential layoffs. Microsoft is reportedly considering a massive wave of layoffs and closures at various subsidiary studios, such as Compulsion Games, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory. As of this writing, the aforementioned studios remain in discussions with Microsoft to avoid potential closure. With both Sony and Microsoft both facing layoffs within each company’s subsidiary studios, the gaming industry may be in for a rough July.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence