Sony Faces Significant Losses with Bungie as Marathon Struggles to Gain Traction

Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie is facing some serious challenges. According to the latest earnings report, the company recorded an impairment loss of 88.6 billion yen (approximately $565 million) related to the studio behind Marathon and Destiny 2. This significant loss is reflected in Sony’s fourth-quarter earnings, which concluded on March 31, just a month after Marathon’s release.

For the entire fiscal year, Sony reported a total impairment loss of 120.1 billion yen (around $768 million) concerning Bungie.

“The earnings from Bungie’s game portfolio fell short of our expectations, prompting us to revise our business plan downward and impair the full value of Bungie’s fixed assets, excluding goodwill,” stated Sony’s CFO and corporate executive officer Lin Tao. An impairment indicates a permanent decline in the value of an asset, meaning Bungie’s worth is now significantly lower than what Sony initially paid.

Marathon, Bungie’s latest title, launched on March 5 but has struggled to achieve the same level of success as the Destiny franchise. In its first month, Marathon peaked at 77,358 concurrent players on Steam, but current numbers fluctuate between 4,000 and 17,000, according to Steam Charts. In contrast, Destiny 2 reached a peak of 316,651 players on Steam at its height. Despite receiving largely positive reviews from both critics and players, Marathon has yet to capture a broad audience.

Tao acknowledged the game’s performance in official remarks, indicating that Sony is committed to supporting Marathon’s ongoing development.

“Player reception to Marathon is strong, with a Metacritic score of 82 and over 90% of player reviews on Steam being positive. Engagement metrics, such as retention, also remain high,” Tao noted. “Moving forward, we plan to enhance the game’s performance by retaining our highly engaged core users through new content, gameplay improvements, and expanding the user base.”

In a recent move to support Marathon players, Bungie has made one of the game’s top sponsored Cryo Archive kits available as a free weekly download.

Marathon is currently playable on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

While a Game of the Year nomination may be a stretch, Bungie certainly has a strong chance in the multiplayer category.