Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie have announced that the studio has undergone widespread layoffs, with the Destiny team most affected.

Taking to X with a sombre statement, Bungie confirmed that the studio is commencing a “reduction in force” that will result in various staff members losing their jobs. The statement acknowledges the steady decline that Destiny 2 had seen over the last few years, stating that, “we recognise Destiny 2 fell short of expectations these past several years. Following our final content update to Destiny 2, and with our future projects still in early incubation, we unfortunately could not continue operating at our previous size.”

Aside from platitudes and well wishes to those affected, the statement didn’t offer much in terms of figures and details, but a follow-up post on the SIE website from CEO Herman Hulst provided a bit more clarity. In addition to reiterating the impact of Destiny 2’s sunsetting on this decision, Hulst confirmed where these layoffs were coming from. “We have made the decision to reduce Bungie’s workforce, affecting a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members. There are also reductions across SIE teams that support Bungie’s operations. Those impacted at Bungie and within SIE are being informed today.”

The death nail for Destiny was already hammered in, but seeing “most of the Destiny team” walk out the door with boxes in hand is particularly grim. The mention of “some Marathon team members” may also give us a glimpse into SIE’s view of the extraction shooters’ launch and reception, with the live-service title struggling to find a healthy player base months after launch. Even with Hulst’s comments, we still don’t know exactly how many people have been let go, but it’s clear it’s a significant number.

It’s been four years since Sony acquired Bungie for an eye-watering $5 billion. Without poring over Sony’s year-on-year profit and loss statements, it would be pretty safe to say that this acquisition hasn’t been as fruitful as the blue brand may have hoped. The buyout came during a (dark) period when the company was looking to aggressively pursue live-service titles, and that particular house of cards fell catastrophically, with the biggest example of failure being the closure of Firewalk Studios and its hero shooter, Concord. It’s so hard to say what the future holds for Bungie, especially with Marathon’s ongoing struggle to gain a foothold in the market. For now, we sit and wait, hoping that one of these incubation projects rights the ship. Really, we just hope that Bungie sticks around long enough for that to even be an option.

What do you make of these layoffs? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.