Supporting Marathon is the only way to keep the Sony Interactive Entertainment-owned Bungie alive, according to a former employee.
Former Bungie community manager Liana Ruppert took to Twitter/X to respond to a post regarding the final Destiny 2 update likely being a “make it or break it” situation for the game and the possibility of Sony Interactive Entertainment giving it a chance. In her response, she stated that the latter wasn’t to blame, as these issues existed prior its acquisition of Bungie. “Wasn’t Sony though, this fight was pre-Sony,” she said.
Ruppert mentioned that Bungie’s financial issues predated its Sony Interactive Entertainment buyout, which according to her, was an emergency acquisition. She further stated that the studio was on the verge of shutting down Destiny 2. “Bungie was below the red line before the Sony acquisition,” she said. “If it wasn’t acquired right then, the studio was very close to shutting its doors at the very least on Destiny. It was an emergency acquisition.”
Regarding the future of the Destiny series, Ruppert said that the only way to keep Bungie up and running at the moment is to support Marathon, though she admitted that half of the Destiny community won’t appreciate her for saying this. According to her, comparing Marathon numbers with those of Destiny 2 is ignorant, as the former was never created to do “Bungie numbers.” “Half the community is going to hate me for saying this, but the only way to keep Bungie alive right now is to support Marathon,” she mentioned. “People keep comparing Marathon numbers to Destiny and frankly, that’s ignorant. Marathon was never designed to do Bungie numbers. The conversations about that were very upfront early.”
Ruppert clarified that Marathon was designed to be in line with Escape From Tarkov, a completely different target audience that just happens to have a wider intersection with the target audience of Destiny. “It’s more aligned with Tarkov than Destiny,” she said. Completely different target markets that just so happen to have a wide intersection with Destiny target markets since it uniquely has so many.”
