2023 has seen a worrying amount of developers and publishers in the games industry being hit with layoffs, and Bungie now seems to have joined that ever-increasing list. In a report published by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, it’s been stated that the company – which was acquired by Sony last year in a deal worth $3.6 billion – has let go an undisclosed number of its employees.
In the same report, it’s also been claimed that the two projects that Bungie is officially confirmed to be working on right now have both been delayed. Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which was previously set to launch in February, has allegedly been delayed to June 2024, while PvPvE extraction shooter Marathon, which was announced earlier this year, has seemingly been pushed back into 2025.
Sony or Bungie have yet to make official statements regarding the layoffs or the delays. Previous reports have also claimed that Bungie is working on a MOBA-esque title called Matter that is allegedly targeting 2025 launch, though it remains unknown how (or if) that project has been impacted by these recent developments.
Bungie is far from the only company to have suffered layoffs in recent months, with companies like fellow first party PlayStation studios Naughty Dog and Media Molecule, Epic Games, Telltale Games, Creative Assembly, Team17, and Crystal Dynamics, among others.