The future of Bungie is under scrutiny again following news that active support for Destiny 2 is effectively ending. The studio announced that the nearly nine-year-old shooter will stop receiving major updates after June 9, 2026. For fans, this marks the end of a big era, but the community reacted quickly: players launched a petition demanding Destiny 3.
In just a few days, the petition gathered around 180,000 signatures. Notably, that figure is more than double the peak concurrent player count of Marathon on Steam. The comparison stings for Bungie, since Marathon now appears to be the studio's main project for the foreseeable future, while Destiny 3 is reportedly not in active development.
Compounding the situation is internal uncertainty. According to media reports, some Bungie employees have already been moved to Marathon, and the studio may face significant layoffs ahead. Additionally, certain developers allegedly knew about the winding down of active Destiny 2 development in advance, while others learned about it almost at the same time as the public announcement. This has intensified the sense of crisis inside the company and among fans.
The decision not to launch Destiny 3 immediately is likely tied to PlayStation's caution. A full-fledged new project in the Destiny universe would require a massive budget, and after a mixed history with live-service titles, the publisher may be hesitant to greenlight such an expensive development. Instead, Bungie is reportedly set to pitch new projects to PlayStation in the near future, among which ideas related to Destiny could theoretically appear.
For now, all eyes are on Marathon. Reports indicate that in March, the game attracted about 2.2 million players across PC and consoles, but its actual sales and long-term prospects remain unclear. This is a risky moment for Bungie: it is closing an important chapter with Destiny 2 and betting on a new project that still needs to prove it can replace its former flagship.
The petition shows that a significant portion of the audience sees Bungie's future not in Marathon, but in a full-fledged Destiny 3. While such appeals rarely directly change the strategy of major publishers, 180,000 signatures in a few days is a loud signal. Players are making it clear that they are not ready to simply let go of the Destiny universe; they expect from the studio not a final update, but a new big beginning.