Bungie's Destiny 2: The Final Shape and Marathon reportedly delayed

Following layoffs at Bungie, the developer's next expansion for Destiny 2, The Final Shape, alongside the upcoming Marathon have been delayed.

This comes from a report by Bloomberg, who also shared word of the layoffs at the Sony-owned studio. According to those that spoke with Bloomberg, The Final Shape has been delayed from its February 2024 release date to some time in June, meaning it is no longer releasing in Sony's current fiscal year. While the rebooted, extraction shooter take on Marathon hadn't received a release date yet anyway, it has also been delayed to 2025.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape was originally expected to arrive February 27 next year, and is set to wrap up the overarching story that was first started in the original Destiny. Marathon was announced earlier this year, and was described as a "sci-fi PvP extraction shooter." It's currently in development for both PS5 and PC, but we haven't seen anything of it since its reveal.

At this point in time, it isn't clear how many at Bungie have been laid off, though based on now former employees sharing that they have been affected by the layoffs suggests it's at least in the dozens. It also looks like no particular area has been hit, as there have been layoffs across the developer's art, quality assurance, community and social teams, and other departments. One of the more higher profile employees that seems to have been laid off is composer Michael Salvatori, who has been with Bungie since even before the original Halo. The home page of his website now reads "Gone fishin'."

This now marks the fourth Sony-owned studio to have been hit with layoffs, as Naughty Dog cut contractors in early October, which was followed by the support studio Visual Arts also suffering from layoffs, before Little Big Planet and Dreams developer Media Molecule was also affected by layoffs.