Bungie declares it's 'not done with Destiny' as it lays out studio's future

Bryant Francis,Senior Editor,GameDeveloper.com

September 21, 2026

schedule4 Min ReadImage via Bungie/Sony Interactive Entertainment

A surprise update from Destiny 2 and Marathon developer Bungie has given the video game industry a reason to turn its head at the Sony-owned subsidiary. The company revealed an unexpected bit of news in a new update from studio head Poria Torkan and Marathon general manager Josh Deane: that it is returning to development on the Destiny series and preparing to "unvault" years of archived content for Destiny 2.

"Destiny is foundational to Bungie's future," the studio declared in a blog post penned by the two studio higher-ups. "We have more stories to tell, new worlds to build, but we have to do it right and give our teams the time they need to do justice to this amazing universe."

"We want to return Destiny to its original promise, to recapture the qualities that have always made it special. The awe-inspiring mystery, meaningful discovery, and a community of Guardians coming together against impossible odds. That begins with restoring important parts of Destiny 2’s history that players can no longer experience today."

Developers and other industry professionals might be surprised to hear such a proclamation given that Bungie declared Destiny 2 active development would be ending in June 2026. Shortly thereafter, it laid off almost 300 employees working on the long-running game. Torkan acknowledged these and other turbulent events in a video accompanying the post, saying that "we have lost trust, lost incredible colleagues, and our ambitions as a studio stalled."

"We chased vision without enough focus on what players loved and that's on us. We own that."

The process of rebuilding that trust apparently begins with restoring years of "vaulted" Destiny 2 content. For years, Bungie would cycle playable expansions in and out of Destiny 2 through a process it called "vaulting," meaning a significant chunk of the game's older content was unplayable by the public. This process created some legal headaches for Bungie as it recently fended off a (now-settled) lawsuit accusing the company of plagiarism in one of its vaulted campaigns.

Making said content playable again isn't simply a matter of pushing a button. Torkan and Deane noted that recent expansions to Destiny 2 overhauled elements such as the games' lighting, combat, and other "underlying systems." "This restoration is the first step to lay the foundation for how we reforge into new stories and games that you all deserve," they wrote.

Bungie intends to be more than a Marathon studio

After previously signaling that the studio intends to significantly overhaul Marathon , Bungie is now saying that the game "did not reach as many players" as the studio hoped for, and that it understands the game "needs to evolve." It was lighter on the specifics of this evolution, only saying that the game's developers will "continue strengthening its combat, world, and competitive tension while giving players more agency in how they engage with the game."

It's unknown if either a Destiny revival or major updates to Marathon would see the company hiring back any laid-off developers, many of whom might have experience with both games' underlying systems.

With Marathon missing major metrics, Sony previously declaring that Destiny 2 underperformed since its 2021 purchase of Bungie, and wave after wave of layoffs, the studio that once forged to Xbox's Halo series has certainly been going through hard times. Torkan and Deane acknowledged these difficulties in the post, saying that its future "depends on making clear choices about where we focus, delivering what we say we will, and being honest about our successes and our failures."

"Stability doesn't mean shrinking our ambition. I just means we have to focus on the things you want to see from us, and making sure our vision matches our reality," they wrote. Alongside improvements to the Destiny series and Marathon, the pair promised that the company inends to "increase transparency around development priorities" and "communicate more consistently, especially when plans change."

Torkan and Deane's message was largely directed toward players, but their final words offered some sense about what is being communicated to workers inside Bungie. "We’ve made several changes with how we operate by simplifying our priorities, reducing competing initiatives, moving decisions closer to the teams building our games, and changing how we measure success to place greater emphasis on player satisfaction," they concluded.

"There is still a great deal of work ahead and challenges to overcome, but we believe deeply in this studio, our people, and the games we are building. But belief is not enough. It’s on us to prove progress through what we deliver. "

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About the Author

Bryant Francis

Senior Editor, GameDeveloper.com

Bryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' 4X strategy game Zephon, Iron Anchor Studios' Down With The Ship, and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.

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