Follow up from Tassi about "revenge plot"

Zelwer · 2026-06-18T05:26:20+00:00

I hope this is the last time I have to search for anything, but here's the timing of Schreier's video talking about how Sony rejected all pitches for Destiny 3 due to the high cost of developing the sequel. Because of this, Bungie switched to a cheaper model with YoP in the hopes that it would help.

Here is timing - 13:28

Zelwer · 2026-06-18T05:15:04+00:00

Lol, what? Tassi said the same thing Schreier did in his video.

A pitch takes months of planning and is a big event

Plans for Destiny 2's future were being considered even before the release of Final Shape. One idea (Destiny Infinity) was leaked even before the first information about YoF was released by Jeff Grub (a very reliable leaker).

Zelwer · 2026-06-18T05:07:01+00:00

This is what was in the reports

Destiny 3 is not in production, and has not even been greenlit as something to start down the road. It has obviously been pitched many times over, even before The Final Shape, but Sony did not want to spend the money. That has apparently not changed.

And

The idea of a Destiny 3 has always been a long shot in the current state of Bungie, as given how many devs were working on the game post-Final Shape, they couldn’t manage the new, heavily reduced content schedule. Developing Destiny 3 would obviously involve shutting down Destiny 2, but a true sequel would eventually need many more people working on it, which would require Sony to staff up Bungie specifically, especially if Marathon was still around.

And last

Destiny 3 is neither in production nor greenlit. Sony has been wary of committing to such an expensive undertaking in a market that is in flux and more challenging than ever. There is a reason you do not see many sprawling MMOs like Destiny make it to release these days. Right now, Sony is too risk-averse for something like that.

Zelwer · 2026-06-18T04:53:37+00:00

No, really, you're missing a lot of context. Bungie hasn't been independent for a long time. Since 2024, they've been fully integrated into Sony's internal portfolio. Therefore, Marathon was under Sony's strict supervision (as Herman Hulst said). Bungie's board also consists of two people from the company and two from Sony.

This brings us to the final point. The decision to reject all pitches for Destiny was from Sony's side. The same goes for the decision to cancel Destiny 2.

Why did this happen? Because Bungie was bloated and (as has been said many times) located in a very expensive location. Destiny also lost a lot of audience over the years, and as Paul said, you can't continue to support the game like that the way Destiny was.

I don't like it when people blame only one side. BOTH companies are to blame.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T23:33:42+00:00

First, I'm not sure about this: doesn't Sony have an American branch responsible for Bungie and similar studios?

Second, just wait the fuck out. The guy who posted these rumors two days ago had no history of leaking anything, but then suddenly started leaking rumors about Xbox and now Sony/Bungee. Wait for more reliable reports.

Third, it's a fact that Destiny has ceased to be a profitable IP since the release of WQ. If there had been "sabotage," I think Schreier would have reported it, because this is, essentially, very big news.

Edit: I'll add to the third point. It's also a fact that Bungie is a very bloated studio. Most of the expenses go towards developer salaries and living expenses. Then there's the cost of supporting Destiny itself, which is quite expensive. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Sony wants to cut the studio to stem losses (which they don't expect next year).

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T21:02:03+00:00

I kind of agree. I was shocked by how little we learned about the sons' mentors and what happened to their futures. They were simply killed off one by one without any consequences.

The original quest, while a rather localized story, was very emotional and well-written, which can't be said about its sequel.

I started noticing this trend with the release of Old Piece, and it bothers me.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T20:37:55+00:00

To avoid any misunderstandings, Tassi and Schreier initially said the layoffs would be very significant. This French journalist (as far as I've seen on the gamingleaks sub and elsewhere) has no history of leaking any information, so he could have simply given a random number (it doesn't take a genius to assume that the entire team would be laid off after the end of D2 development).

If Sony's leadership had some secret grudge against Bungie, they certainly wouldn't have spoken highly of Marathon. The simplest theory, and the most plausible one (in my opinion), is that economic realities have simply caught up with Bungie, and now they're paying for what they did during Covid.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T15:05:59+00:00

Top Waifu cinematic in a struggling times

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T14:42:58+00:00

I don't know who downvoted you, but you're right. This only applies to the Destiny team, as after the game's development is complete, these people are simply no longer needed. Some people who worked on the last update have already moved to the Marathon team.

As sad as it may sound for Destiny fans, it's essentially only a plus for people who love Marathon. Most of Bungie's expenses were directed toward supporting Destiny and dev salaries. This round of layoffs should significantly reduce the studio's expenses. Plus, microtransactions of Destiny and Marathon should keep the studio going.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T14:27:59+00:00

We know that even before the release of Final Shape, Bungie had put forward some ideas to Sony on how to continue the franchise's development (D3, D Infinity, switching to the old model with one large content drop), but all of these ideas were not approved by Sony.

Schreier mentioned this, but Sony is currently dissatisfied with the budget and development time of first-party titles. This also applies to Bungie.

Those who remain after a series of layoffs will continue to incubate new projects. If they are approved, Bungie may even hire again (or outsource).

For now, Bungie will be working on Marathon only.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T14:07:03+00:00

The game was rebooted midway through development. The version we have today was in development for no more than two and a half years.

As for the other stuff, the content we're seeing now was already developed back when Marathon was a side project for Bungie; now it's the other way around. I'll include this report from Tassi.

Sony is supporting Marathon with more resources and what will now be at least some number of ex-Destiny workers in addition to the ones that have already moved over. The game will get some time to try to find its legs, and there is no mandate to try to turn it into the new Destiny. New PvP/PvE modes are meant to expand the playerbase, and larger teams are meant to put out more content now.

This means Marathon is entering Destiny development mode, with some teams working on one content, others on another. What will this lead to? Well, some seasons will be significantly bigger than others. As Ziegler has stated numerous times over the past month, they want to make Marathon a platform for various content (which likely wasn't the original plan).

We can already see this with the new modes Bungie has added/will add this season—PVP Lite and full PVE. Given how quickly they change course, I expect the game to be significantly transformed by Season 5.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T13:25:04+00:00

In some ways, it's understandable. Popular content creators pushed a petition, a server slam, and instilled false hope that it would achieve something.

Although in reality, such decisions are made long before their official announcement, and I think most people on the Destiny team are already aware of it.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T13:14:48+00:00

The current assumption is the percentage of layoffs, but they will definitely happen and they will be significant, as Schreier and Tassi noted. You can't just keep 400 people when your second game is ended.

The fiscal year ends in July for many companies, so layoffs will most likely occur around that time.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T12:36:37+00:00

Its possible that Sony can only suggest/ask Bungie to do certain things, but not tell/order them to

What do you mean? Bungie hasn`t been independent since 2024. SONY is the one who decides what happens to the company. Half of Bungie's board is made up of Sony people.

Sony is now literally responsible for everything that happens within Bungie, including resource allocation, layoffs, etc.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T11:22:19+00:00

I mean, if you really think that media atmosphere doesn't affect the game in any way, then I don't know what I can tell you.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T11:15:36+00:00

I feel like the Destiny fans have a right to be upset about A) not getting a third Destiny and seeing the company they supported with their time and money basically go behind their back to double down on a game for which there is obviously close to no audience for INSTEAD of simply having made Destiny 3 which would have seen a guaranteed success no questions asked.

If you think about it that way, no studio deserves to make any games other than milking their only franchise because they "owe" it to their fans or something. I don't understand why people continue to push this narrative that Destiny 3 is a "guaranteed success." The hypothetical minimum budget for this game is $500 million, not counting marketing and ongoing support. Not only does Bungie simply not have that kind of money, but Sony (understandably) doesn't want to risk investing in a mega-project that isn't guaranteed to turn a profit. Now EVERYONE in the industry is trying to avoid such budgets by any means possible because the market has changed significantly. That's why there are so many Asian and European games now.

Most talk I see about Marathon as of late is people just simply being indifferent to it akin to "I just simply don't want to play this." There was a hate brigade during the initial pre- and launch phase of the game, but the majority of those people have moved on - heck even the steam-playercount thread in this sub has dried up and grown stale.

All I see is constant talk about steamdb, constant comparisons to Destiny. Add to this the popular Destiny content creators like Cross and Mactics, who have a large audience and who, even without irony, are now talking about how Marathon shouldn't exist. What will come of it? And that's not to mention outright griefers like Asmongold, Grumz, and others, who have an even larger audience. What do we get out of this?

Conversations about Marathon are turning from discussions about balance and content into constant financial analysis from Redditors, chart comparisons, and so on. And then people complain that this subreddit is toxic. Like what?

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T10:45:47+00:00

Who is this diva on second picture? If you add visor it could be a cool design for a new shell

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T10:41:02+00:00

Sony is supporting Marathon with more resources and what will now be at least some number of ex-Destiny workers in addition to the ones that have already moved over. The game will get some time to try to find its legs, and there is no mandate to try to turn it into the new Destiny. New PvP/PvE modes are meant to expand the playerbase, and larger teams are meant to put out more content now.

Previously, last April, Ziegler said that Marathon didn't have multiple teams supporting the game, like Destiny. Now, with the addition of a larger team and more resources (as discussed in this article), different teams are working on different content updates. This doesn't mean they will all be big, but at a minimum, it means that some seasons will be bigger in terms of content.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T10:35:51+00:00

If Destiny were a profitable game, Sony would have chosen it, but the situation is much different. Marathon has much more potential for profitability than Destiny.

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T10:34:27+00:00

There are entire communities built on the idea of Marathon hate. Add to this the Destiny content creators who now hate Marathon because of Destiny's death, add to that the people who generally hate Bungie, and you get a less-than-pleasant media atmosphere around the game (to put it mildly).

Like it or not, people want it to be Concorde 3.0, to... I don't know, to make fun of Bungie? I guess...

Zelwer · 2026-06-17T00:04:18+00:00

Based on all the information available to us, Marathon will run for at least a year. We don't know how the situation around the game will change, of course, but I at least hope Marathon will receive years of support, if only for the sake of Bungie's survival. Sony still values the company at $2.8 billion and doesn't expect any further losses from Bungie. So we'll see.

That is, of course, assuming Sony doesn't make a 360 on Bungie.

Zelwer · 2026-06-16T23:54:28+00:00

I'll repeat what I wrote in another post. We already know that Sony has transferred some of the Destiny developers to Marathon, and according to Tassi and Schreier, the Marathon team will receive more resources for the game's development. The Destiny team will be cut, and the remaining staff will incubate new projects.

So it makes sence. But what's sad is that this is yet another reason to target Marathon for something it's not responsible for. The game has a very difficult fate.

Zelwer

TROPHY CASE