Bungie To Lay Off At Least 50% Of Its Workforce This Summer, It’s Claimed

Bungie could reportedly face major layoffs this summer, with a new claim saying at least 50% of its workforce may be affected.

Bungie has already had a rough few weeks. Destiny 2 recently received its final live service update called Monument of Triumph, bringing years of active development to a close. That said, the game is not shutting down, but Bungie has made it clear that this is the end of planned live service content updates for Destiny 2.

That final update was not small either. It was a massive send-off for the game, packed with sandbox changes, rewards, and returning content. The update also brought a big jump in player numbers on Steam and other platforms, showing that Destiny still has a loyal audience when Bungie gives players a reason to come back.

But behind that player spike, the bigger picture has not looked good. Bloomberg previously reported that Bungie was planning significant layoffs after the final Destiny 2 update, with no Destiny 3 currently in active development and no new project greenlit for the Destiny team.

Now, we have another report on this front, and it is definitely not looking good.

Bungie Layoffs Could Reportedly Affect at Least 50% of Its Workforce

This latest claim comes from French journalist Sylvain, who shared on X that Bungie could be hit by massive layoffs this summer. According to him, he has heard that at least 50% of Bungie’s workforce could be affected, including both permanent employees and contractors.

Here is the (machine) translated statement:

“And if that wasn’t enough, Bungie is expected to face massive layoffs this summer. I’m being cautious with this, but I’m being told that at least 50% of the workforce could be affected, including permanent employees and contractors, following the end of Destiny 2 and the situation with Marathon.”

Of course, take this with a huge grain of salt for now. Bungie and Sony have not officially announced this number, and even Bloomberg’s earlier report did not give an exact figure. Still, even if the 50% number ends up being off, it would not be surprising if the final number is high. Bungie has already gone through major cuts, Destiny 2’s active development is ending, Marathon has had a difficult road, and Sony has not greenlit a new Destiny project.

To put Bungie’s workforce situation into perspective, the studio had around 1,600 employees before its first major layoffs in 2023, based on comments from former Bungie chief legal officer Don McGowan. After the October 2023 cuts, Bungie was later reported to have around 1,350 employees in January 2024, not including contractors or Sony employees.

Things changed again in July 2024, when Bungie announced another round of layoffs affecting 220 staff members. At the same time, 155 roles were being moved into Sony Interactive Entertainment as part of Bungie’s deeper integration with PlayStation. Following those cuts and transfers, Bungie said it still had over 850 team members working on Destiny and Marathon.

In short:

• Before 2023 layoffs: Around 1,600 employees
• After October 2023 layoffs: Around 1,350 employees
• July 2024 layoffs: 220 laid off, with 155 roles moved to Sony
• After July 2024 restructuring: Over 850 team members remained
• Claimed summer 2026 layoffs: At least 50% affected
• Estimated impact: At least 425 people, if based on Bungie’s last known figure of over 850

So, if the newly claimed 50% figure is based on Bungie’s last known post-restructuring headcount of over 850 team members, it could mean at least 425 people affected (around 72% reduction from pre-2023 layoffs). Again, these are just estimates.

What do you think about the future of Bungie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!