The news comes from a report by Game File, which has drawn on information from a notice to the Washington State Employment Security Department from Sony. Of course, that number doesn’t account for employees from locations outside of Washington, but it’s quite a grim situation, affecting people across various teams, like art, technical departments, audio and sound, engineering, production, integrated support, and system design.

Several impacted employees were folks working on Destiny 2, thanks to a recent statement from Herman Hulst himself, while rumors of Justin Truman stepping down are becoming increasingly true. Additionally, there is speculation that Jason Jones, one of the studio’s co-founders, might also be impacted, since one of the reported layoffs is the company’s Chief Vision Officer. Jones is known for keeping a low profile, but he did appear in a video promoting Destiny 2, where the title is attributed to him.

We’re keeping a close eye on this one, and as much as we hate to be the bearers of bad news, you can be sure that we’ll tell you more as soon as possible. Of course, Marathon, despite also suffering some layoffs, will continue, with its next major update planned for July 21st and Season 3 hitting on September 22nd.

Before succeeding previous CEO Pete Parsons, Truman has worn many hats on Destiny 2, serving as a development lead and a gameplay experience director before becoming chief development officer. However, his experience with the company stretches even further back as he worked on Halo: Reach and then the original Destiny.

Truman became studio head in August 2025, which means he spent less than a year in the role. With PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst noting that “most” of the Destiny team facing layoffs, it’s probably a given that someone with such a huge background in the series would leave.

The question now is who will step into the role, and whether PlayStation will be much more heavily involved. Hulst already hinted at Marathon being a larger focus, though that team is apparently incubating other exciting projects. At this point, there isn’t much else to do but wait for more details.

As for Marathon, its next big update arrives on July 21st, adding a PvE version of Cryo Archive called Vault Breaker. The team also announced that Season 3 would go live on September 22nd and add a new Runner Shell and overhaul the Perimeter map with new encounters and whatnot.

According to Hulst, the decision was made “only after extensive discussion and careful consideration.” “Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy. We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals.”

Praising the franchise as a whole, he noted that Bungie would begin a “new journey” after the recent final content update for Destiny 2. Whether that means a new project or something else remains to be seen. According to reports before this announcement, Destiny 3 is not in development.

As for Marathon, Sony considers it an “important part of our portfolio,” and Hulst says it will “continue to support the team as they build on the strong foundation established in Season 1 and 2, and as they work on incubation efforts for future projects.” The latter is seemingly “too early to discuss”, but the company is “encouraged by the creativity and opportunities that lie ahead.” Potential spin-offs or something else entirely? It would certainly be an interesting option to explore, especially since the extraction shooter hasn’t exactly been setting the charts on fire or hitting record player counts, at least on Steam.

Regarding those facing layoffs, Hulst said, “We are providing transition support and, where possible, working to identify opportunities across SIE and our global network of studios.” This is similar to what happened in June 2024 when 155 roles from Bungie were integrated into PlayStation, resulting in new studios like teamLFG.

We may only know the extent of layoffs in the coming months, so stay tuned, but based on previous reports, they’re looking to be “significant.”

“As the leaders of Bungie, past and present, we recognize 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,” it stated.

While aware of the “profound impact” this would have on those laid off, leadership noted that the changes “are necessary to best position the studio now and for the future.” Further details will be revealed at an unknown date.

Bungie didn’t divulge the number of layoffs, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims that they’re “significant.” Other reports allege that 50 percent of the studio will face layoffs, which would bring its apparent size of 850 employees as of June 2024 down to roughly 425, if not lower.

Keep in mind that the current headcount is after mass layoffs following the disappointing performance of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Of course, these reported reductions are far from confirmed, but as it stands, expect major changes at the studio going forward.

And for those hoping that Destiny 3 could help its fortunes, reports indicate that it’s not in production. Destiny 2’s servers will remain available for the time being, but while Monument of Triumph has provided more than enough to keep fans satisfied for the time being, there won’t be any major fixes or changes for the foreseeable future. As always, stay tuned for further updates and details on the studio in the coming months.

If you’ve ever wanted to delve into Cryo Archive but hated facing other teams, Vault Breaker is essentially a PvE version. You’ll take on “progressively challenging” vaults with a unique progression system that helps you get stronger over time.

There are multiple caveats, though. You can only enter with a Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit, and can’t exfil anything but Vault Data. The latter is used to purchase gear for regular PvEvP, and can also be used to upgrade the unique Sponsored Kits for better odds.

Other notable changes include the Cradle Evolution system to essentially Prestige it and unlock new Runner Shell skins and one additional max Energy point. Players can also finally look forward to profile stats, showcasing their history as a Tau Ceti IV nuisance.

But that’s not all, as Season 3 is confirmed for September 22nd. It adds a new Runner Shell, weapons and equipment alongside an overhaul of Perimeter. It could be thematically relevant as Bungie promises new locations, encounters and mechanics, but other surprises also await in the season, so stay tuned.

But one of the more interesting stories out of this whole ordeal is Marathon. When Bungie announced that its flagship looter shooter would no longer receive new content…well, some fans didn’t take it very kindly, and resorted to review-bombing the extraction shooter (which wasn’t enough to really drag down its Steam score but still). A small dispute of sorts broke out as many encouraged boycotting Marathon.

This all made for an awkward launch to its second season, NIGHTFALL, on June 2nd. In terms of new content, it added a night version of Dire Marsh, imaginatively titled Night Marsh. And while it did offer several new additions, from oppressive darkness that required light sources to new enemy types, the real appeal was seemingly in the new limited PvE mode, where a squad with Sponsored Kits could occupy the map for the first several minutes before Rooks, a Runner Shell meant for solos, began backfilling.

Even with all the uproar around Destiny 2, and thanks in part to a free week, Marathon crawled back up to just under 41,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. Of course, this is still a massive drop from nearly 89,000 concurrent players when it launched in March, but surely this momentum—with all these changes, new features, and loot—would hold…right?

"Even with all the uproar around Destiny 2, and thanks in part to a free week, Marathon crawled back up to just under 41,000 peak concurrent players on Steam."

Well, no. Two weeks later, and Marathon is slowly sliding back down to where it was before Season 2’s launch. Yikes.

There are several ways of looking at this, of course. The market is overly saturated with online games, especially in the free-to-play space where most want to stick with their comfort picks. The season’s release timing – the same day as State of Play – coupled with Destiny 2‘s end of support and preceding several major showcases is just bad timing in terms of exposure and word of mouth. The live-service business model is one that’s seen nothing but losses at this point, particularly earlier this year with Highguard. Marathon also costs $40 – not the highest price of admission but also not enough to beat free. And even when it was free, the number of players willing to check it out, at least on Steam, is disappointing at best.

It would be enough to chalk it up as another live-service failure and move on, but that’s not quite so simple. For starters, Marathon reportedly cost more than $200 million, close to $250 million, and it’s confirmed to have been in development for four years. That budget isn’t too hard to believe considering the pre-launch marketing, the all-star voice cast, and so on (and yet it launched with even fewer PvP maps than Destiny 1, but that’s neither here nor there). But the fact that Bungie was willing to delay it proves that (a) the overall state of the game was nowhere near as polished as it wanted, (b) it needed time to build some positive buzz around it, and (c) Sony clearly has a significant amount riding on it.

I mean, look no further than the company’s statements after its last financial report, where it was revealed to have suffered $765 million in impairment losses because of Bungie. It even admitted outright that the developer’s title portfolio “did not reach our expectations.”

"For starters, Marathon reportedly cost more than $200 million, close to $250 million, and it’s confirmed to have been in development for four years."

That said, it wasn’t going to pull a Concord and suddenly abandon the game. Sony noted strong reviews, including on Steam, and high player retention. So the goal was to then “improve the performance of the game by working to retain highly engaged core users through the introduction of additional content, further improvements in the gameplay experience, and expansion of the user base.”

However, Bungie has done all these things. Not only could it not reach the heights of the game’s launch, but player numbers have dropped right back down to what they were before.

And that’s a problem for many reasons because that apparent near $250 million budget probably doesn’t account for post-launch content. Or the cost of running servers. Or the cost of additional marketing, like those fancy cinematic trailers.

Sales figures remain unknown – all we have are reports that it had 2.2 million players in March. It’s very much possible that there’s a thriving community on consoles, but even in terms of actual numbers, it appears to be far below the likes of, say, ARC Raiders – another extraction shooter whose Steam player base is nowhere near its peak.

The problem with Marathon is, and always has been, the more hardcore PvP approach. Bungie could take every step possible to mitigate gear losses or pile on the loot, but it was built from day one to be a more ruthless competitive experience. It’s a game where a highly skilled player could absolutely thrive…just as much as a highly skilled team could effectively shut down anyone, and wipe out a good chunk of their progress. Unlike ARC Raiders, the avenues for avoiding other players, much less getting matched with those who aren’t out for blood, are far lower. And I say this as someone who enjoyed my time with it, learning the ins and outs of Tau Ceti IV – its hazardous flora, its mysterious events, and the sheer terror of trying to survive while savoring the gunplay.

"The problem with Marathon is, and always has been, the more hardcore PvP approach."

The funny thing is that it’s nowhere near as hardcore or realistic as Escape from Tarkov, and yet, even that’s seeing better Steam numbers. Marathon definitely offers a far more polished experience, but it’s also trying to appeal to a wider audience. First impressions matter though, and those who weren’t hooked from the get-go, either because of the messy UI or the punishing gameplay, clearly didn’t want to stick around. Which makes these experimental PvE modes all the more questionable, because Bungie has a PvE-focused game that it’s committed so many resources to over the years, just recently put out to pasture.

I can’t really tell you if there’s a solution to the whole Marathon problem because it may have been doomed from the start. Even with its announcement, the sheer bafflement at the classic FPS trilogy being turned into an extraction shooter was overwhelming. There was hope at the time that Bungie, of all developers, could probably pull it off. Call it a coin toss, because even the most skeptical of Destiny 2 players (read: me) admitted that the studio had its wins here and there.

But for Sony, it’s probably becoming clearer that Marathon won’t become a worthy live-service addition. It may be fine enough for a small hardcore community, but with that budget and given the spending on post-launch content – never mind how much Bungie costs to maintain in general – that’s simply not enough.

And with rumors of layoffs looming large at the studio, Sony may be content to just let Marathon ride out the remainder of its roadmap, offsetting costs by paying fewer salaries. By this time next year, it wouldn’t be surprising if it too gets that tearful end-of-support warning. Such is the nature of the industry, but you would think that Sony would have known better from the start rather than continuing to persist. But such is the siren of live-service, and the fate of those ensnared by its song.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The trailer begins with the Vandal perched atop a high wall, looking at some enemy forces coming in through drop ships. After almost immediately antagonizing them, Vandal then leaps into action, all while dodging a hail of gunfire. Eventually, after getting to a better vantage point, the Vandal decides to strike, taking out a single enemy and dropping a grenade to wipe the rest of the squad out. The trailer culminates with the shell using their high speed and ability to get a jump boost to get to the squad’s leader.

Marathon is currently in the midst of its second season, dubbed NIGHTFALL. Bungie has confirmed that the season will mark the arrival of two new game modes, with the first one focusing largely on PvE with “light” PvP elements, and the second one being purely PvE-focused. The first one was launched at the season’s start, and the second one is slated to be released at a later date.

NIGHTFALL also brought with it a new variant of Dire Marsh, dubbed Night Marsh. In a blog post, Bungie noted that this variant has been designed to be “slower-paced than Day Marsh and plays more like a survival horror experience, with slightly fewer players and extra environmental challenges with navigating the darkness and threats within.”

Despite Bungie’s continued post-launch support for Marathon, the fact that it hasn’t really been getting the number of players that the studio or parent company Sony would be happy with isn’t exactly a secret. Sony CFO Lin Tao had noted back in May that one of the company’s aims in the coming months is to improve its overall performance by bringing in more players.

“Going forward, we aim to improve the performance of [Marathon] by working to retain highly engaged core users through the introduction of additional content, further improvements in the gameplay experience, and expansion of the user base,” she said.

This would eventually lead to the Marathon Open Play Week earlier this month, which invited players to give the PvPvE extraction shooters a shot for a whole week. The Open Play Week also included the Sponsored Survival PvE mode.

Interestingly, the Open Play Week would come with its own host of problems; some PS5 players discovered that they could get their hands on the Digital Deluxe Edition of Marathon for only $14 during the week. This turned out to have been a mistake, however, leading to Sony quickly updating the PlayStation Store page for the game to offer clarification that the $14 price tag is only for the Digital Deluxe itself, and doesn’t include the base game, which would be needed to access the content.

It hasn’t all been great, but we can safely say that this is a title that we’re all going to miss. The trailer seems to understand that, and there’s a hint of the sadness that sudden goodbyes often bring, underlining all the cool stuff coming on June 9th. Earth is on the mend, and the Guardians must look towards the future. There are still things to do, and new triumphs and rewards to uncover in the Pantheon, where you’re going to be taking on returning Raid Bosses with cool new Distortion abilities that look quite nasty to be on the receiving end of.

Sparrow Racing League is making its return, and you’re going to be racing against your fellow Guardians on some very cool-looking speeders. The future beckons, but whether that includes Destiny 3 is still uncertain. It might have made learning about the game’s last days a tad easier, and perhaps even helped lessen the shock of what might have been the best-kept secret at Bungie. Nevertheless, it’s nearly time to tip our collective hats to a looter shooter that has had a good run, all things considered.

However, Sony quickly caught onto many players trying to take advantage of this, and has updated the PlayStation Store page for Marathon to offer some clarification. An attempt to grab the Deluxe Edition of Marathon for cheaper than even the base game through this method will now warn you that you are only buying the extra goodies that come with the Deluxe Edition, and that the purchase doesn’t include the game itself.

“Purchasing this product will grant access to the Deluxe Edition content only for the duration of the Open Play Week, after which accessing this content will require purchase of the Marathon Standard Edition,” wrote Sony. “The price displayed reflects only the Deluxe Edition content add-ons, not the Standard Edition price.”

According to Mp1st’s report, the PlayStation Store description for Marathon’s Deluxe Edition seemingly also listed the base game as being part of the entire package. This was likely the primary cause of the confusion among players who were trying to buy the title during the Open Play Week.

As one would expect, the Marathon community hasn’t taken too kindly to this move by Sony and Bungie. One player took to social media to note that, “this is exactly why people hate Bungie bro, and I play Marathon every day, what is this s***.”

Discussions about the subject on the Marathon subreddit have seen similar levels of confusion and anger from the community. While some have noted that this was essentially the equivalent of a pricing error, others raised the question of why Bungie didn’t create a separate game client that could be used to access the Open Play Week and not much else.

As for players who may have grabbed the Deluxe Edition during Open Play Week in the hopes of getting a cheap copy of Marathon, if they are no longer interested in picking up the base game, Sony still has its refund options available.

Marathon’s Open Play Week was kicked off on June 2nd across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The title will be available to free until June 9th, beyond which, those interested in continuing their time with the PvPvE extraction shooter will need to buy the game. Interestingly, the Open Play Week also features one of Marathon’s two experimental PvE game modes – Sponsored Survival.

The start of the Open Play Week coincided with Bungie kicking off season 2 of Marathon, which brought with it a new matchmaking system and the new Night Marsh map, which has been described as offering a survival horror experience by the studio.

In a typical match, all Runner crews spawn on the map at the same time (barring any Rooks who can join one in progress). Sponsored Survival takes place on Night Marsh, the new map, but only one crew will start. They’ll have a few minutes to explore and battle the UESC (and other monstrosities) before the Rooks start to join.

You could leave them alone and go about your business, strike up a temporary alliance, gun them down as you please or exfil early. Either way, when 18 minutes have passed, the final exfil will be available. Just in case you’re joining as a Rook and worried about the sheer firepower of the Runner Crew, the latter can only have Sponsored Kits at the start.

What happens if they find better weapons or make up for that with better coordination? Well, you better run fast. Note that all Rooks will immediately be redirected into Sponsored Survival as it’s available, so even if you’re not a new player, you might as well take the opportunity to learn the intricacies of Night Marsh.

Once again, this is only the first PvE mode – the second arrives later in Season 2 and won’t have PvP at all. It’s all experimental, so whether they’re permanent additions to the game or not remains to be seen.

Marathon Season 2: NIGHTFALL goes live at the same time as the Open Play Week for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here for what you should know before jumping in.