Destiny developer Bungie will lose a "significant number of employees" as part of brutal-sounding layoffs that will include "most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members," PlayStation CEO Hermen Hulst has confirmed.

In a public blog post, Hulst described the decision as "difficult" and "painful," but "necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals." The news follows the recent ending of new content for Destiny 2, and amid a lackluster player numbers for new launch Marathon.

Hulst's statement claims that "multiple alternatives" were explored before the layoffs were finalized, though offers no suggestion of what these might be. On Bungie's Destiny franchise, Hulst calls the series "remarkable" but simply acknowledges that Destiny 2 is no longer receiving new content. There's no suggestion of anything else being planned. (One report claimed that a Destiny 2 relaunch, rebranded as Destiny Infinity, was discussed but ultimately dismissed.)

On Marathon, Hulst describes the fledgling extraction shooter as "an important part of our portfolio," though also suggests its team — which sounds like it will be the only team left within Bungie — will also work on other projects.

"Marathon remains an important part of our portfolio, and we 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," Hulst says. "While it’s too early to discuss, we are encouraged by the creativity and opportunities that lie ahead."

PlayStation acquired Bungie back in 2022 for $3.6 billion, at a time that Destiny 2 was still going strong, and Sony was still looking to live-service games as the future — a policy it has since all but reversed. While exact staff numbers impacted by layoffs today have not been confirmed, Bungie is known to have employed 850 staff as of 2024, many of which were assigned to Destiny.

Today's layoffs will also impact a smaller number of PlayStation's own staff, whose roles were linked to supporting Bungie's operations.

In its own statement, published via social media, Bungie confirmed its employees would suffer layoffs as the company was reorganized.

Job losses at the studio had sadly been previously reported as likely following the shock news that Bungie was effectively putting the Destiny franchise on ice after more than a decade, with no further updates or expansions in the pipeline, and no imminent plan to make a full Destiny 3, despite countless calls from fans.

Bungie's own statement on the job losses lies below in full:

"With great sadness, we are announcing a reduction in force as we reorganize Bungie.

"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.

"We know this decision has a profound impact on the people affected, their families, friends, and teammates. While these changes are necessary to best position the studio now and for the future, that does not lessen the difficulty of this moment or the impact it has on those affected.

"Later, we will share more about that future with you all but today is not that day.

"Today, we wish to extend our gratitude and compassion to every member of the Bungie team who has been impacted and to those who remain.

"We hope you will do the same. - Bungie"

Earlier this month, a former Bungie staff member said that the only way to support the studio now was to support Marathon.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social