The studio known for creating the Halo and Destiny franchises, Bungie, was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2022 for a whopping $3.6 billion. As the developer struggles to release Marathon as its next major project, it seems Destiny 2 hasn"t been doing too well. Sony revealed today that both sales and engagement have fallen below the expectations it set when the acquisition originally went through.
The announcement arrived in Sony"s latest earnings report covering the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. As such, Sony recorded a ¥31.5 billion (about $204 million USD) impairment against Bungie"s Destiny 2 assets. While Helldivers 2 continues to be a live service success for the company, the impairment charge has dragged down its profits.
"Regarding Destiny 2, partially due to the changes in the competitive environment, the level of sales and the user engagement have not reached to the expectation we had at the time of the acquisition of Bungie," said a message from Sony CFO Lin Tao during the company"s financial presentation (via TheGamePost). "While we will continue to make improvements, we downwardly revised the business projection for the time being and recorded an impairment loss against a portion of the assets at Bungie."
It"s unclear if the latest numbers will make Sony make cuts at Bungie. In 2023, a mass layoff wave at the studio was reported to be caused by lower popularity among players and slipping revenue numbers. While there aren"t any official multiplatform numbers from Bungie, Destiny 2 on Steam is currently seeing its lowest player count trends ever.
Bungie is currently all hands on deck developing its extraction shooter experience, Marathon. However, following user feedback as well as an artwork plagiarism controversy, the title was delayed indefinitely back in June. Bungie CEO Pete Parsons stepped down from the company in August.