Destiny 2 Development Ending June 2026, Bungie Faces Major Layoffs

Final Update Confirmed for June 2026#

Bungie has confirmed that Destiny 2 will receive its final content update on June 9, 2026, according to reports from multiple outlets. The announcement marks the end of nearly nine years of live service support for the looter shooter that launched in September 2017.

This timeline means Destiny 2 will have outlasted the original Destiny's three-year run by a significant margin. The game has weathered multiple expansions, seasonal model overhauls, the controversial content vaulting system, and several major narrative arcs including the conclusion of the Light and Darkness saga with The Final Shape. For a live service game that many predicted would transition to a sequel years ago, reaching 2026 represents both an achievement and, for many players, an overdue endpoint.

The studio is reportedly planning "significant" layoffs following the conclusion of Destiny 2 development. These cuts would affect team members once the final update ships, adding to the studio's ongoing restructuring efforts that have already seen multiple rounds of layoffs over the past two years. The human cost of winding down a nearly decade-long project of this scale shouldn't be understated. Developers who have spent years building raids, crafting weapons, and maintaining one of gaming's most complex live service ecosystems will be looking for new opportunities in an already challenging industry landscape.

No Destiny 3 in Development#

Bungie has no plans for Destiny 3, with the studio instead focusing resources on its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. The decision to end Destiny 2 support without a direct sequel represents a major shift for the franchise that has defined Bungie's output for the past decade.

This marks a stark departure from the original Destiny roadmap. When Destiny 2 launched, the expectation was that Bungie would follow a similar cadence to other major franchises with numbered sequels every few years. Instead, the studio committed to an extended live service model, continuously building on the same foundation rather than hitting the reset button. That approach allowed for narrative continuity and let players keep their hard-earned gear and progress, but it also meant the game has been built on increasingly aging technical foundations.

Marathon represents Bungie's bet on the extraction shooter genre that has exploded in popularity with titles like Escape from Tarkov and the more recent Delta Force. It's a significant pivot from the more accessible, matchmaking-focused PvE experience that Destiny built its reputation on. Whether the Destiny audience will follow Bungie into a more hardcore, high-stakes PvP-focused experience remains an open question.

The news has sparked backlash from portions of the Destiny community. Marathon has been review bombed on Steam by players expressing frustration over the end of Destiny 2 development, according to Dexerto. While review bombing rarely accomplishes much beyond venting frustration, it reflects genuine anger from a community that feels abandoned. Many players have invested thousands of hours into Destiny 2, building clans, mastering raids, and chasing god rolls. The announcement that this investment has a hard expiration date, with no clear path forward for the universe they've grown attached to, has understandably hit hard.

The situation also highlights the tension inherent in live service games. Players invest time and money with the implicit understanding that the game will continue, but studios ultimately control when to pull the plug. Destiny 2 has had a longer run than most, but that doesn't make the ending easier for dedicated players who saw it as a hobby they could return to indefinitely.

What Happens After June?#

While Destiny 2 will no longer receive new content updates after June 2026, details about server support and whether the game will remain playable have not been clarified. This is arguably the most important question for the community right now. Will Destiny 2 transition to a maintenance mode where servers stay up but no new content arrives? Or will Bungie follow the path of other sunset live service games and shut down servers entirely, rendering years of content inaccessible?

The precedent isn't encouraging. When Bungie vaulted significant portions of Destiny 2's content in 2020, including entire campaigns and destinations, it demonstrated a willingness to make content unavailable in the name of technical constraints. If the game goes fully offline, it would mean the loss of some of the best raid content ever created, hundreds of hours of story missions, and a massive library of weapons and armor that players have collected over the years.

The final update will presumably wrap up remaining story threads and provide closure for the long-running narrative. After The Final Shape concluded the Light and Darkness saga, Bungie has been exploring new narrative directions with the Echoes and subsequent seasonal content. Whether they can deliver a satisfying conclusion to these threads in a single update, or if some storylines will simply be left hanging, remains to be seen. Destiny's narrative has always been a mixed bag, with moments of genuine brilliance buried under layers of obtuse lore and repetitive seasonal storytelling. Sticking the landing would go a long way toward giving the game the send-off it deserves.

For Destiny veterans who have invested years into the franchise, this represents the end of an era. The lack of a Destiny 3 announcement leaves the future of the IP uncertain. Bungie still owns the Destiny IP after their split from Activision, but with Sony's acquisition of the studio and the focus shifting to Marathon, it's unclear if we'll ever see another Destiny game. The universe could sit dormant for years, or Sony could eventually hand it to another studio for a reboot. Neither option is particularly appealing for fans who want to see the franchise continue under Bungie's direction.

There's also the question of what happens to Destiny's incredibly dedicated content creator community. Streamers and YouTubers who have built careers around daily Destiny content will need to pivot, and the loss of that ecosystem will further fragment what remains of the playerbase.