Bungieis already hard at work with the ongoing support ofDestiny 2and upcoming reboot ofMarathon, but it appears the studio’s third new IP may not be as far as some players may be thinking if a new report is correct. News on the third IP, known only asMatterfollowing a 2018 trademark filing, has been fairly light in 2023 as the studio focuses on its two known titles. However, this new information does not come directly fromBungie, but instead from the current legal litigation embroiling Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Destiny 2’s current season,Season of the Deep, sees the return of Titan to the Sol System after its disappearance at the launch of 2020’sBeyond Lightexpansion. Guardians have been summoned to the moon at the request of Deputy Commander Sloane, who is requesting aid to protect a creature living beneath the methane waves which may have valuable information about The Witness. However, the Hive god Xivu Arath is also making her presence in the system known more directly as her forces work to stop Sloane’s plans for the creature.
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Despite the near constant support required forDestiny 2and development of the newMarathon, new documents fromMicrosoft’s FTC hearingssuggestMattercould be releasing sometime in 2025. The hearing documents specifically contain an evaluation of Bungie done by Microsoft in 2021, outlining some of the studio’s plans at the time for expansion and game support. It points out how the studio “has more than doubled its headquarter space” and was set to open its first international office in Amsterdam in 2022, the latter of which would focus onDestiny 2support and development ofMatter.
The internal evaluation by Microsoft lines up with additional reports suggesting the tech giant wasinterested in acquiring Bungie, along with Sega, in 2020. By that time, the studio was known to be working on a new IP,Matter, and had received a $100 million investment Chinese tech company NetEase to go toward the new project. Updates became few and far between following this news, though it has been confirmed theMarathonreboot is an entirely different project from the third IP.
Since the time of the evaluation, Bungie has seen quite a few changes occur on the business side as the studio is no longer independent.Sony completed its acquisitionof the studio for roughly $3.6 billion in July 2022, joining a roster of first-party studios which include Sucker Punch and Insomniac. It also remains to be seen if the 2025 release window in the 2021 evaluation remains accurate, or if the new IP may be further off than players think.
Destiny 2is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
