Following Bungie’s layoff news, several insiders have provided updates on their projects, starting with Destiny 3. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, sources inside Bungie confirmed that Destiny 3 was actually never in development, despite earlier rumors to the contrary. The studio experimented with a spin-off project codenamed Payback for a while, but it was eventually shelved before the latest round of layoffs.
Bungie will instead continue to support Destiny 2, but according to another insider, Jeff Grubb, it will do so in a different fashion. During Grubb’s Game Mess Mornings, the insider also confirmed the departure of major figures like Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy:
This other project, called Payback, was being overseen by Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy. This new thing was going to be the new Destiny experience, the next big thing for Destiny, but specifically not Destiny 3. Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy are no longer at Bungie; they were let go. Payback is on the shelf and the strategy now is, let’s take Destiny 2 and we’re going to make smaller experience packs, smaller, tinier, little things that are 6 months instead of the annual expansion packs they’ve done before. There’ll be two smaller experience packs going forward.
This strategy change was confirmed by another Destiny leaker, who said there will be 2 DLCs and two seasons per year with a seasonal narrative, a seasonal loop, and two rally events.
According to Jeff Grubb, Bungie will also be essentially run by PlayStation Studios Head Hermen Hulst, losing its previously recognized autonomy following the acquisition by Sony.
The process is beginning to basically remove their autonomy. They will no longer operate as an independent studio under Sony; they will be like any other PlayStation worldwide studio under Sony Interactive Entertainment, with Herman Hulst overseeing the studio like he does the rest of Sony studios.
Beyond Destiny 2 support, Bungie remains focused on the Marathon reboot as a competitive extraction shooter and a third franchise, which will be developed alongside PlayStation Studios.
