Sony’s Bungie bet is looking a lot heavier than expected.
In its FY2025 financial results, Sony reported an impairment loss of 120.1 billion yen, around US$765 million, tied to Bungie — the studio behind Destiny 2 and Marathon. In plain gamer terms: Sony now believes Bungie is worth significantly less than before, and it has had to reflect that drop in its books.
This is not a small accounting oopsie. Sony bought Bungie in 2022 for US$3.6 billion, and this latest write-down suggests the studio’s value has fallen by roughly 20% over the past 12 months.
Part of the damage had already shown up earlier in the fiscal year. Sony previously reduced Bungie’s value by 31.5 billion yen, around US$204.2 million, during the second quarter — around the period when Destiny 2 was facing a dip in momentum. But the much bigger hit came in the final quarter, where Sony recorded another US$565 million loss. That window includes the launch of Marathon, Bungie’s new extraction shooter.
That timing is why Marathon is now getting a lot of attention.
To be clear, Marathon did not completely flop out of the gate. The game received a fair amount of positive review attention and managed to reach a peak of over 88,000 players on Steam. For a premium shooter in a competitive PC market, that is not nothing.
The issue is that Sony and Bungie were likely aiming much higher. Sales have reportedly struggled, and the Steam player count has gradually declined after launch. Sony has not released official sales numbers, but analysts estimated that Marathon had sold between 1.2 million and 2 million copies by the end of March. That sounds big, but if the reported US$250 million budget is accurate, the bar for success was obviously gila tinggi.
For Malaysian and SEA players, this is the kind of industry news that matters beyond just “big company loses money.” Bungie is one of the most influential shooter studios in the world, and Sony’s live-service strategy has been built around the idea that games like Destiny and Marathon can keep players spending and grinding for years.
But extraction shooters are still not easy to sell here. Games like Escape from Tarkov and Arc Raiders have strong followings, but the genre is much more punishing than your usual Valorant, Apex Legends, or Call of Duty session. In Malaysia, where a lot of players are balancing limited free time, café sessions, and RM-priced game purchases, a hardcore extraction shooter needs to feel instantly worth the commitment. If the learning curve is too brutal, many players will simply go back to the games their squad already plays every night.
That may be Marathon’s biggest challenge. The game has a dedicated community, especially around endgame activities like Cryo Archive, and Bungie has said it is committed to supporting Marathon with years of content. So no, this does not mean the game is dead tomorrow.
But it does show how risky the live-service dream has become. A strong studio name, a big budget, and a decent launch peak are no longer enough. Players need a reason to stay, spend, and convince their friends to join.
For Sony, the pressure is now on Bungie to prove Marathon can grow into a long-term pillar instead of becoming an expensive lesson.
Source: Dexerto Gaming