Sony Reportedly Ended Destiny 2 Support Over Financial Losses, Not Revenge Against Bungie

Sony reportedly ended Destiny 2’s active development because of money issues, not revenge against Bungie, according to a new report.

The end of Destiny 2’s active live service development has left many fans confused, frustrated, and searching for answers. Since the end-of-service announcement, the conversation around Bungie has only grown louder, with players pointing to Sony, Bungie leadership, Marathon, possible layoffs, and the future of the Destiny franchise as the biggest questions hanging over the situation.

One of the louder claims came from French journalist Sylvain Trinel this week, who reported that there was strong internal pushback at PlayStation over the decision to discontinue Destiny 2. He also claimed that some people at PlayStation saw the move as a kind of “revenge,” with Sony leadership (apparently one executive at the company) reportedly blaming Bungie for problems tied to its wider live service strategy.

Now, well-known Bungie insider Paul Tassi of Forbes has come out and pushed back against that idea.

Sony’s Decision to End Destiny 2 Live Service Was Reportedly About Profit and Loss

According to a new report by Tassi, who says he spoke with a Bungie source under the condition of anonymity, the idea that Sony ended Destiny 2’s support to take revenge against Bungie is not accurate. Instead, the source claims the decision was mostly based on business numbers.

Tassi’s source pushed back on the “revenge” reporting and said PlayStation employees who are confused by the decision may not have full insight into what leadership was thinking. The report also says Bungie is not being blamed for Concord or Sony’s wider live service struggles.

“The impression from my source was that this information from the Sony side was probably gathered from PlayStation employees who would not be in the know about leadership’s motivation and mindset,” the report reads.

“There are employees who have said out loud (through internal communications) that they are confused about Destiny 2’s cancellation, but this is a company with 12,000 employees. This decision was almost entirely about math: profit and loss. Destiny 2 has been losing more money than it’s been making, and it has always been a very expensive game to maintain.

“Sony is not punishing a studio it owns and still considers a pricey asset out of some desire for ‘revenge,’ and no one at Bungie thinks that’s the case. Bungie is also not being blamed for the failure of games like Concord, as some have suggested, or the large-scale problems with Sony’s recent live-service strategy.”

In other words, Destiny 2 was reportedly costing too much to keep running at the level Bungie had been supporting it. The game has always been expensive to maintain, and according to this report, it was losing more money than it was making, which, at this point, shouldn’t be a surprise.

The layoff situation is another major part of this story. Trinel previously reported that up to 50% of Bungie could be affected. Tassi says he has heard several possible numbers, and that 50% is one of them, but nothing is finalized yet.

For now, this should still be taken with a grain of salt. There are two very different narratives being painted here. One says Sony’s move was driven by frustration and internal blame. The other says it was cold business math.

Bungie and Sony haven’t commented on these reports yet.

What do you think about this? Share your thoughts in the comments below!