"Sony has not indicated any imminent closure of Bungie or cancellation of Marathon, though the studio may face layoffs and further cost reductions."
Impairment Losses
Sony announced an additional $565 million impairment loss related to Bungie, bringing total impairment losses to $765 million since the acquisition. The write-downs reflect that Bungie's valuation has decreased significantly since Sony purchased it for $3.6 billion. Sony expects impairment losses for Bungie to be absent or significantly reduced by FY2026.
Marathon Performance and Sony's Stance
Sony stated that player reception to Marathon is strong, citing a Metacritic score of 82 and over 90% positive Steam reviews, as well as high retention metrics. Sony plans to improve Marathon's performance by introducing additional content, enhancing gameplay, and expanding the user base.
However, according to third-party data, Marathon's player count on PC has been declining since launch and is approaching the nightly player count of Destiny 2, an 11-year-old game.
Bungie's Challenges and Future
Bungie is reportedly allocating more developers to Marathon than to Destiny 2, which has led to reduced content output for the older title. Significantly, Destiny 2 was not mentioned in Sony's earnings report, raising concerns about its roadmap. No plans for Destiny 3 have been announced.
Sony has not indicated any imminent closure of Bungie or cancellation of Marathon, though the studio may face layoffs and further cost reductions.
Context
The $3.6 billion acquisition price was considered high at the time, and recent financial results suggest Bungie's value has fallen significantly.