Divide@DivideGaming21
Imagine your ultimate goal was to grow and remain independant as a multi-IP studio only to destroy the studio entirely.
- THE RISE -
It's 1991, Bungie was founded and made Marathon (not an extraction shooter)
It's now 2000, Microsoft buys Bungie, Halo becomes huge, Bungie wanted independence, they leave Halo with Microsoft to sign a publishing deal with Activision in 2010 to make a new franchise "Destiny"
- THE PEAK -
Push forward to 2014, Destiny launches big but incomplete, heavy criticism for story, repetition and cut content but no other game on the market felt as good as Destiny, players kept coming back each content drop.
It's now 2017, Destiny 2 launches, Bungie were "weeks" away from shutting down but they over-delivered with Forsaken in 2018 with help from other studios, it saved Destiny 2 (for now)
In 2019, Bungie and Activision split, Bungie had full control without publisher safety nets and now had to fund itself but Bungie got free.
In 2020, the pandemic hit, everyone was playing games and staying at home. Quantitative easing began, money supply was expanding globally at a rapid rate. Bungie resorted to over-hiring, expanding the studio. beginning multiple incubation projects, they scaled for temporary numbers thinking the pandemic would last forever.
- THE DECLINE -
In 2021, Destiny 2 introduced the Destiny Content Vault, removing the majority of core content, damaging its reputation and making the new player experience overwhelmingly bad.
In 2022, Sony accuired Bungie for $3.6B, Sony saw Microsoft and other major companies buying up live-service studios and publishers and didn't want to miss out of having none, so they bought Bungie at an over-valued price on the promise of Bungie having multiple successful live service games and their "expertise" of live service knowledge, at the time, Sony had planned to release over 12 live service games by 2025.
Bungie's former CEO Pete Parsons decides to buy vintage cars. Bungie also expanded their studio to a new HQ of over 208,000sq. ft, hoping to expand into the Film & TV industry with Destiny-related content.
In 2023, Lightfall launched with strong numbers, but was a disaster and failed to hit revenue targets by 45%. It resulted in layoffs, morale collapse, and players disengaging from the game with a rapid player falloff. The game in itself by this point hit the peak of monetization chaos, overpriced cosmetics and bundles and a very complicated new player experience that felt overwhelming.
In 2024, The Final Shape launched, it saved reputation but failed financially, the playerbase sunk rapidly as players felt their journey was complete. It resulted in more layoffs. Bungie's focus shifted towards Marathon while advertising a new "Episodic Structure" that was basically just Seasons but less content, and less frequent, at the same price.
- THE DEATH SPIRAL -
In 2025, Bungie lost it's trust again, stolen artwork for Marathon, lawsuits, etc, while it's new Destiny saga with The Edge of Fate expansion failed to even achieve a third of Final Shape's player count. It was clear things were only getting worse as content continues to get smaller and less frequent. The day 1 raid was a disaster with over 70% of day 1 clears being cheated.
Renegades launched in December of 2025, player numbers were even worse than Edge of Fate.
In 2026, Marathon launched as a "great game" but failed financially, it launched as an Extraction Shooter, which wasn't what the first game in the 90s was. It was built for trend-chasing, not for sustaining a world that players want on a long-term basis. Marathon's launch resulted in Destiny 2's major update being delayed, and eventually, cancelling Destiny 2's Live Service game permnantly.
By June 2026, Destiny recieved it's final live service update the Monument of Triumph. The end of Destiny 2 which no longer gets anymore updates.
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(ok just speculation lol)
In September 2026, Marathon launches it's third Season, introducing new ways to play with expanded PVE content, it fails to attract a new audience and bring players back, it's downtrend of player numbers continues.
By 2027, Bungie starts losing Marathon devs, with more layoffs, a smaller strcture to how Marathon recieves content and Bungie starts to dissolve into Sony.
By early 2028, Destiny 1 and 2 Servers go offline, Marathon continues to remain with a niche playerbase, but the company's size by this point has been massivly reduced which talent moved into other studios within Sony.
By 2029, the global money supply expands rapidly, higher risk-on assets become volatile, Sony greenlights a new Destiny project with a release date expected by late 2030s.
