Destiny 2's future still bleak despite huge 100K player counts on Steam

Destiny 2 may stay in retirement as the recent wave of players may not be enough to sway Bungie's/Sony's decision on sunsetting the online FPS.

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Faced with financial pressures, Bungie is putting Destiny 2 into stasis. The studio simply doesn't have enough money to fund Marathon and Destiny 2 at the same time, and the studio's assets have been hit hard by a hefty $750 million impairment charge. This basically means that Bungie's games failed in a way that triggered accounting adjustments that impacted and lowered Bungie's net profit by creating another expense on its income statement.

The news sparked a campaign among hopeful gamers that Destiny 2, or the Destiny franchise, could be revived if enough players showed up. The game has had over 100K players on Steam for the past 9 days in a row, since the Monument of Triumph update released. Unfortunately, sources tell Forbes' Paul Tassi that this outpouring of player support hasn't affected the decision around Destiny 2.

"Even in the wake of this well-performing update, I asked my sources, 'is there anything that this has done to kind of move the needle to change things based on how well this has been received, how many people are playing--Destiny's been third in Steam revenue for pretty much a week. Is there anything that has changed?' And the one word answer I got back is, 'No.' "

Tassi goes on to say that these things have essentially already been set in motion, meaning there may not be any stopping them, yet certain decisions may be temporary as Sony and Bungie ride out the disastrous hardware crisis afflicting the market.

Bungie is expected to conduct hefty layoffs, as per reports from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, however there are also rumors that the studio could shed 50% of its staff in the wake of the impairment losses.

For now the Destiny IP will remain on ice, yet both Destiny 1 and 2 will remain online and playable on all platforms for the foreseeable future, with the microtransaction Eververse store still active for continued monetization.