[Bloomberg reports that Destiny studio Bungie reportedly laid off an unknown number of staff today, and that Destiny 2's expansion, The Final Shape, has been delayed.

Reports of the layoffs first surfaced earlier today on social media after several employees said they were laid off. I was laid off from Bungie," tweeted former social media leader Griffin Bennett." I'm sitting here pondering what went wrong, so I'm going to write something surreal. My first instinct is still to process it all, my first instinct is anger, but I know I regret what I will say. Thank you to everyone at Bungie for making my last 5+ years the best they have ever been.

Former Bungie community manager Dylan "dmg04" Gaffner, known to fans for years as the face of Destiny 2 before leaving the company in December 2022, also took to Twitter to express his support for the affected employees and his anger at the layoffs that regularly occur in the gaming industry. He expressed his anger at the regular round of layoffs in the gaming industry.

"It's even frustrating to see people who work their butts off to do a good job continue to see their financial stability lost due to poor management," he tweeted in response to the reported job cuts. In some of these cases, "knowing how hard these people worked during incredibly difficult developmental and emotional times makes my mouth sour. Proactive/reactive work, always at the end of the funnel, had to make do with what they had. And now we're letting go."

Hours after reports of the layoffs first surfaced, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons confirmed the job cuts in a statement posted on Twitter.

"Today is a sad day for Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have made a huge impact on our studio." These outstanding individuals have contributed so much to our games and Bungie's culture and will remain a part of Bungie for years to come."

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The layoffs are particularly noteworthy in light of the fact that Sony spent a whopping $1.2 billion less than two years ago to secure key staff for the studio, which it acquired in January 2022. The strategic significance of this acquisition is not only the acquisition of the highly successful Destiny franchise and key new IP currently being developed by Bungie, but also the integration of Bungie's expertise and technology in the field of live game services into the Sony Group," Sony said in its third quarter 2021 Sony stated in its financial report for the third quarter of 2021.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape, billed by Bungie as the conclusion to the long-running light and dark saga that has been the narrative backbone of the game since the original Destiny launched in 2014, was scheduled to go live in February 2024. Bloomberg reports that it is now scheduled for release in June, which would put it in Sony's next fiscal year. The planned "episodic" schedule would also likely be disrupted: the new episodic system that would replace Destiny 2's current seasonal system was scheduled to begin in March 2024.

If confirmed, the postponement of "The Final Shape" would not be completely sudden. Both the Beyond Light and Witch Queen expansions had to be delayed for several months, and given the devastating reception the Lightfall DLC received, it would not be too surprising if Bungie wanted to take as much time as possible for the final act of the nearly decade-long Destiny saga.

Bungie is not the only major Sony studio to cut jobs in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Naughty Dog reportedly laid off at least 25 contract Q&A staff as its planned multiplayer shooter spin-off, Last of Us, struggled.

Meanwhile, Bungie's new reboot of the 1994 shooter "Marathon" has also reportedly been pushed back to 2025. We have contacted Bungie for more details and will update if we hear back.