Bungie delaying Destiny 2 expansion and Marathon release amid layoffs

“Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote on X, formerly Twitter. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the layoffs come several weeks after a meeting in which execs said that Bungie’s revenue was 45 percent lower than projected, and in which Parsons blamed Lightfall, Destiny 2’s most recent (and poorly received) expansion, for a drop in player retention leading to the shortfall.

The Final Shape is an ambitious new expansion pack for Destiny 2 that is meant to conclude many of the franchise’s most significant storylines. It was originally expected to be released on both Sony’s and Microsoft’s platforms in February 2024. Marathon is based on the beloved first-person shooter Bungie initially released on macOS back in 1994. The new game, now delayed to 2025, is expected to be a PvP “extraction” game. Bungie never guaranteed it would be released in 2024 but had hinted at that plan.

Update, October 31st, 4:45PM ET: Updated to include the estimated extent of the layoffs as well as context about Bungie’s missed revenue projections, both first reported by Bloomberg.