The End of Destiny: How Bungie’s Live-Service Giant Fell and What Comes Next

The Community Fights Back: A 300,000-Signature Petition

Within 24 hours of Bungie's announcement, a Change.org petition titled "Petition Sony to Develop Destiny 3" appeared, launched by a fan named Harley Casto . The response was immediate and massive. By late May 2026, the petition had accumulated 307,013 signatures, with nearly 10,000 people signing on peak days .

For context, that number is more than three times the peak concurrent player count of Bungie's newest title, Marathon, which reached roughly 88,000 players on Steam . The petition's description captures the community's sentiment: a plea for Sony to greenlight a true sequel that would "expand the horizons of what is possible within this universe" .

Fans have even organized a rally for June 9, the same day as the final update, to demonstrate their commitment to the franchise . But based on multiple insider reports, the effort is symbolic at best.

Why the Petition Won't Change Anything

Forbes journalist Paul Tassi, citing unnamed sources at Bungie, has consistently reported that there is no path forward for Destiny 3 under current conditions. "My sources have no belief it is coming at the moment," Tassi stated, adding that the decision to end Destiny 2's development was made earlier in 2026 after both Edge of Fate and Renegades performed below internal expectations .

The core obstacle is cost. Developing a full-scale Destiny sequel would require a massive investment at a time when Sony is already writing down hundreds of millions of dollars on its Bungie acquisition. As one report summarized bluntly: "Destiny 3 is not in development and has not been greenlit" .

The Scrapped 'Destiny Infinity' Reboot

Before deciding to end support entirely, Bungie explored at least one creative alternative. Internal discussions focused on a project called Destiny Infinity—a soft reboot that would have scrapped the two-expansion-per-year model in favor of a single, large annual expansion, effectively relaunching Destiny 2 under a new name .

The idea, according to Tassi's reporting, was to "kickstart momentum" without the cost and risk of building a full sequel . Destiny 3 was also discussed internally but never moved beyond the concept phase . Ultimately, both the Infinity reboot and the sequel were discarded, and Bungie leadership chose to wind down the franchise entirely.

Sony's $765 Million Impairment Loss

The financial toll of Destiny 2's decline—and Marathon's disappointing launch—became public in Sony's FY2025 earnings report for the quarter ending March 2026. The company disclosed impairment losses totaling 120.1 billion yen, approximately $765 million, against Bungie's intangible and other assets .

The write-down was split across two quarters: 31.5 billion yen in Q2 and 88.6 billion yen in Q4 . This is the second time Sony has impaired Bungie's value since acquiring the studio for $3.6 billion in 2022 . During an investor Q&A, Sony CFO Lin Tao confirmed that "earnings from Bungie's title portfolio did not reach our expectations" .

An impairment loss in corporate finance does not mean Bungie lost $765 million in cash in a single year. Rather, it means Sony now believes the studio's assets are worth significantly less than what it originally paid—an admission that the $3.6 billion deal has not paid off as projected.

Marathon's Struggles and the Looming Restructuring

The studio's immediate future is now tied to Marathon, the extraction shooter that launched in 2025. But that game has also underperformed. Its peak concurrent player count on Steam of roughly 88,000—lower than the Destiny 3 petition's signature count—has been highlighted by media outlets as a stark symbol of the studio's diminished standing . Sony's impairment filing explicitly cited both Destiny 2's decline and Marathon's unmet expectations .

Bungie is now reallocating resources toward Marathon and other incubation projects . While no specific layoff figures have been officially confirmed, multiple reports describe further job cuts as widely expected. The studio that once defined the modern live-service shooter is now contracting, with its legacy franchise entering maintenance mode and its new flagship struggling to find an audience.

At the end of May 2026, the Destiny franchise sits at a terminal inflection point. The servers will stay on. The monument will stand. But the story—at least for now—is over.