Bungie wanted to face a shining future with their new shooter Marathon. Recently, things haven’t looked good for the developers. But now, what many fans have feared is happening – Sony has run out of patience with the Destiny 2 development team.
How has it been for Bungie so far?
- Marathon showed first gameplay in 2025. Unfortunately, the test phase about 4 months ago did not convince players. The criticism: The game has little depth and incentive to play it long-term.
- Accusations of plagiarism also arose. The team allegedly stole the work of an artist. Bungie blamed a former employee.
- The developers have lost players for a long time. Expensive skins, recycled content, and the handling of feedback led to dissatisfaction in the community.
- Last year, there were also 450 layoffs. Almost all projects were put on hold – except for Destiny 2 and Marathon.
Recent leaks showed that Bungie wants to improve something in the shooter and its reputation. For MeinMMO shooter expert Dariusz Müller, however, this was not enough to pacify Sony. Other fans also feared that it cannot continue like this for long.
And it comes as it had to: Sony confirmed the final end for the developers of Destiny 2. The company will ensure that Bungie will no longer exist in its current form.
Sony fully integrates Bungie into its own studio
What is Sony doing now? As confirmed by Sony’s Chief Financial Officer, Lin Tao, the company wants more control over Bungie. Sony plans to fully integrate Bungie into its own development team at PlayStation Studios.
During a Q&A session with investors that took place during the financial report, Tao answered the question of how to deal with Bungie’s management. Initially, Sony had created an “independent environment” for Bungie, but now these freedoms will presumably be abolished.
What does this mean for Marathon? Tao was also asked what would happen to Marathon and if there could be a worst-case scenario where the shooter is canceled. The CFO replied that they are still sticking to the plans to release Marathon by March 31, 2026.
Currently, there are no plans for the extraction shooter to be canceled, according to Tao. Bungie would be making successful progress with the changes to Marathon. They are confident that they could announce a final release in the fall.
Our MeinMMO editor Dariusz finds no fun in extraction shooters at all. But he found one thing in Marathon that he might enjoy – feel free to read about it on MeinMMO: Many extraction shooters bore me, but an innovative idea from Marathon even makes me curious
