Sony Books $765 Million Bungie Writedown After $3.6 Billion Bet Sours

3 articles · Updated · tech-insider.org · Jun 15

$765 million—about 120.1 billion yen—was the impairment Sony recorded on Bungie in FY2025, wiping out roughly 21% of the studio’s carrying value four years after the acquisition.
88.6 billion yen of the charge hit in the January-March quarter, aligning with Marathon’s weak debut and lower expectations for Bungie’s future cash flows rather than any cash payout or studio shutdown.
Marathon reportedly sold about 1.2 million copies against a budget above $250 million after delays and an art-credit controversy, turning the game meant to validate Sony’s live-service strategy into the clearest trigger for the markdown.
Bungie had already cut about 100 jobs in 2023 and roughly 220 more in 2024, with some teams folded into Sony, signaling the acquisition’s promised independence and growth thesis was already fraying.
Sony still says it will support Marathon, but the writedown sharpens PlayStation’s broader pivot toward fewer live-service bets and renewed emphasis on first-party single-player franchises.