As the Destiny 2 community marks the end of the game with its latest and final update, a number of players have pointed to Sony as the reason for the title’s downturn. They argue that the company wasn’t prepared to keep funding the sci-fi loot shooter. Still, former Bungie community manager Liana Ruppert says the picture is far more complicated, and that Bungie was reportedly already struggling well before Sony stepped in.
Ruppert shared this view on X, responding to the idea that Sony alone should be blamed for Destiny 2’s decline.
“It wasn’t Sony, though; this struggle existed before Sony,” Ruppert said, later adding, “Bungie was below the red line prior to the Sony acquisition. Had it not been acquired at that moment, the studio was very close to potentially closing its doors at least on Destiny. It was a crucial acquisition.”
The claim that Bungie has struggled to keep Destiny 2 going is hardly new. Even after Sony’s $3.6 billion purchase of Bungie in 2022—an investment some saw as the necessary lifeline for the studio to keep moving—there were repeated rounds of layoffs and a range of internal decisions. Over time, choices around monetization and how quickly new content was rolled out suggest that at least part of its approach wasn’t landing the way it was supposed to.
This pressure inside Bungie became especially clear earlier this year, when Sony revealed it recorded a $765 million impairment loss in its latest fiscal year. The company linked the figure to Marathon’s weak results, alongside additional performance concerns tied to Destiny 2.
Since then, Bungie has restated its focus on Marathon, which has upset Destiny 2 players who feel support for the older game should continue. Some have pointed to player counts for both titles as evidence that Sony and Bungie ought to keep investing in Destiny 2—particularly after the arrival of Destiny 2’s Monument of Triumph update. That update noticeably increased player numbers to heights not seen in years, right when Marathon was hitting new lows.
Even so, numbers alone can’t capture the full story, and it’s only Bungie and Sony who truly know what drove their most recent decisions. No matter how things ultimately appear, we may never get the complete account.