Bungie has announced the end of content updates for live service shooter Destiny 2, nearly nine years after launch.
The studio behind Halo, which recently released extraction shooter Marathon, said it will release the final content update for Destiny 2 on June 9, 2026. Destiny 2 will remain playable despite active development ending.
Bungie issued the following statement on social media today:
For almost 12 years, we have had the joy and honor to explore the Destiny universe with you all. Through all the ups and downs, surprises and triumphs, building Destiny alongside our players has been a monumental privilege. While our love for Destiny 2 has not changed, it has become clear that after The Final Shape, we have reached the time for our shared worlds, and Destiny, to live beyond Destiny 2.
As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.
Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today. Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to.
We’re proud of Destiny 2, the places it took us, and the legacy it has created. Because of you all, our universe is vast, built on years of shared stories, adventures, and victories. From the Cosmodrome to the Pale Heart to the Lawless Frontier, we have forged life-long memories and friendships with you all.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who made that journey with us.
From the deepest part of our hearts, thank you, and we’ll see you in the stars.
There is no mention of a future Destiny video game being in development, nor Marathon. Clearly, Bungie wants to keep the conversation on the final updates for Destiny 2 itself. But it does suggest Destiny as a franchise has come to an end, marking the end of an era for the genre-defining series.
Destiny 1 launched on September 9, 2014 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. It enjoyed enormous commercial success, but met with a mixed response from critics. As part of a high-profile publishing deal with Call of Duty company Activision, Destiny expansions and updates followed. Destiny 2 launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, 2017, with a PC version following a month later. Behind the scenes, however, tension between Bungie and Activision emerged, and the two companies officially parted ways in January 2019, ending their 10-year publishing deal five years early.
With Destiny in its own hands, Bungie self-published the game, but it couldn’t escape financial troubles and layoffs as Destiny 2 expansions failed to hit the mark and the player base declined. Sony bought Bungie in early 2022 in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. However, Sony has admitted the acquisition has yet to pay off, and it recently reported a $765 million impairment loss due to underperformance of Bungie specifically.
During the financial year ending March 31, 2026, Sony’s Game & Network Services Segment, of which PlayStation is a part, suffered a 120.1 billion yen (approx. $765 million) impairment loss against Bungie’s assets. Sony had already reported a 31.5 billion yen (approx. $204.2 million) impairment charge as a result of Destiny 2’s underperformance during the second quarter of its fiscal year. It then reported another 88.6 billion yen (approx. $565 million) impairment charge on top of that for the fourth quarter.
Hardcore extraction shooter Marathon launched early March, within the last fiscal year and, crucially, within the quarter in which Sony reported the additional 88.6 billion yen impairment charge against Bungie. Marathon reportedly had a budget of more than $250 million, and, according to analysts, has failed to meet sales expectations.
During an investor-focused Q&A, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao indicated the company will stick with Marathon in a bid to grow its user base. “In our studio business, earnings from Bungie’s title portfolio did not reach our expectations, so we downwardly revised our business plan and impaired the full amount of the fixed assets related to Bungie except for goodwill,” Tao said.
“Player reception to Marathon is strong, with the game receiving a Metacritic score of 82 and more than 90% of the player reviews on Steam being positive. Engagement metrics such as retention also remain at a high level. Going forward, we aim to 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.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
