Sony Says Bungie Hasn’t Brought in as Much Money as It Thought It Would When It Bought the Developer, as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff

It’s a pugnacious clip for Bungie and Destiny 2, with genitor institution Sony saying the workplace has failed to conscionable its income and idiosyncratic engagement expectations.

In its latest fiscal report, Sony said it had recorded a 31.5 cardinal yen (approx. $204.2 million) impairment complaint arsenic a effect of Destiny 2’s underperformance. That was important capable to resistance down profits astatine Sony’s Game & Network Services Segment, which includes Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Sony main fiscal serviceman (CFO) Lin Tao, expanded connected the issues with Bungie successful an capitalist related fiscal call:

“Regarding Destiny 2, partially owed to the changes successful the competitory environment, the level of income and idiosyncratic engagement person not reached the expectations we had astatine the clip of the acquisition of Bungie. While we volition proceed to marque improvements, we downwardly revised the concern projection for the clip being, and recorded an impairment nonaccomplishment against a information of the assets astatine Bungie.”

It’s surely been a pugnacious clip for Destiny 2 and Bungie, which is moving connected the delayed extraction shooter Marathon for a merchandise successful 2026.

In August, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons near the institution aft 23 years and astir 10 arsenic CEO. He was succeeded by Justin Truman, antecedently main improvement serviceman and chap Bungie veteran. Parsons oversaw Bungie during galore turbulent years, archetypal taking implicit arsenic CEO successful 2016 from Harold Ryan and overseeing its interruption from Activision successful 2019. He was astatine the helm passim galore of the events catalogued successful our 2021 exposure of Bungie's interior enactment culture. Just months aft our report, Bungie was acquired by Sony for $3.7 billion, ending the studio's flirtation with independence.

Sony, clearly, saw thing successful Bungie and its upcoming slate. But arsenic the acquisition settled in, concerns began to originate astir the studio's future. Destiny 2 was struggling, and Marathon was inactive years away. Then the layoffs came. In 2023, Bungie laid disconnected astir 100 individuals and delayed Destiny 2's The Final Shape DLC, with Parsons taking work for the cuts. Developers told IGN astatine the clip that the ambiance astatine Bungie was "soul-crushing" arsenic fears grew of a full Sony takeover of the company. In 2024, this was followed up with adjacent much layoffs, impacting 220 radical contempt The Final Shape's success. 155 radical were besides integrated from Bungie into Sony astatine this time. In the aftermath of those layoffs, erstwhile workers claimed Bungie misrepresented its finances and had importantly overextended itself erstwhile Sony acquired the studio. It was seemingly atrocious capable that astatine slightest 1 root described arsenic a "well-connected erstwhile worker" went truthful acold arsenic to assertion that Bungie faced dire consequences if the acquisition hadn't happened, saying that the "alternate past is insolvency."

Troubles continued to stone the workplace done the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, with Marathon seeing a hold retired of September of this twelvemonth to an chartless aboriginal date. Most recently, Sony confirmed Bungie would beryllium integrated into PlayStation Studios truthful the institution could person much power implicit the developer.

Destiny 2 has seen its subordinate number plummet arsenic updates person failed to deed the mark. The enactment shooter deed a caller debased connected Steam this month, with a highest concurrent subordinate number of 13,497 successful the past 24 hours. In June past twelvemonth it deed 314,000. Recent idiosyncratic reviews for Destiny 2 connected Steam are ‘mostly negative,’ though wide reviews are ‘mostly positive.’ Steam does not overgarment the full representation erstwhile it comes to Destiny 2’s popularity, with it wide disposable crossed aggregate platforms, but intelligibly Sony isn’t blessed with however the workplace has performed successful the 3 years since it brought it into the fold.

Back successful June, Sony said it remained committed to unrecorded work video games contempt high-profile failures specified arsenic Concord, and insisted Marathon would beryllium retired earlier April 2026 contempt the mixed alpha feedback and damaging accusations of plagiarism against Bungie.

Sony volition beryllium keen to debar different catastrophic motorboat similar Concord, which was pulled offline conscionable 2 weeks aft launch, with 1 estimation suggesting it sold conscionable 25,000 copies. It has proved a costly nonaccomplishment for Sony, with hundreds of millions of dollars wasted amid the closure of its developer, Firewalk Studios. Bungie present faces interest implicit its ain future, with the unit connected Marathon to deliver.

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].