Listen – end of live service support for Fate 2 it's frustrating and there's no denying that. We're following a game that for many of us has taken up all or at least a significant portion of our last decade of gaming, so the deterioration is not only understandable, but entirely justifiable. However, no matter how painful the end is inevitable Fate 2 it is, and despite how rightfully we feel heartbroken over this situation, there's really no excuse or reason to spew hate speech at Bungie as if the studio was solely responsible for it.
It's easy to see all of this as solely Bungie's problem, but it really isn't. In 2022, it acquired 100% of the developer's shares from Sony, a company that eventually moved forward with a buyout because it believed Bungie would help advance its live services ambitions in light of its continued success Fate 2. Just four years later, the game's ongoing development ends with the latest update in June, and it seems Fate 3 doesn't happen either. In other words, as easy as pinning death Fate 2 on Bungie itself, Sony's role in all of this makes this conclusion much harder to defend.
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The important thing here is not just that Sony owns Bungie. That ownership changes will ultimately decide whether Fate 2 still worth the investment players have come to expect. Bungie may present new ideas, revamp its live services model, and try to convince players that there's still life in the franchise, but the Sony-owned studio no longer operates with the same freedom it had before the acquisition.
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That's where the frustration around Bungie really makes a little bit of sense. Players can blame Bungie for years of questionable decisions, and some of that criticism is completely fair. Fate 2 it didn't get to this point because everything was going perfectly until Sony suddenly got involved. Still, once the game became part of Sony's portfolio, the biggest questions surrounding its future became Sony's, if not more so. Sony, as Bungie's parent company, was the company that supported Bungie's operations and decided how much ongoing investment in the studio's projects was worth. To quote Hopper The life of a bug“The first rule of leadership: everything is your fault.”
Sony bought Bungie for Live and then pulled out when it needed help
Sony's own financial position makes its role in all of this even harder to ignore. The company reportedly took a $766 million impairment loss against Bungie for fiscal 2025, and an earlier write-down of roughly $198 million was reportedly related to Fate 2 falling short of Sony's expectations in terms of sales and engagement. Simply put, Sony bought Bungie because they believed Fate 2 and Bungie's live service expertise would help justify a much larger live service future, then had to cut Bungie's value in its accounts when that future stopped looking as profitable as originally expected. So, while Bungie's mistakes helped give Fate 2 in that position is Sony, who seem to have looked at those numbers and decided that the franchise no longer warrants the same level of investment.
That doesn't mean Sony killed it Fate 2 out of spite, and it also doesn't mean Bungie will get away with its own mistakes. The more realistic version is less dramatic, but probably more accurate. Sony bought Bungie in anticipation Fate and Bungie's live service expertise to carry some value, then it seems that it has reconsidered that value for once Fate 2 and Marathon no longer met these expectations. in this context Fate 2The latest update is the visible result of Sony deciding how much more leeway Bungie's most important franchise deserves.
Once the game became part of Sony's portfolio, the biggest questions about its future became Sony's, if not more so.
This is why blaming Bungie itself misses the bigger picture. Bungie may have given Fate 2 in a vulnerable position, but Sony is the company that now decides what that vulnerability means. If Fate 2 active support ends, Fate 3 isn't supposedly in development and Bungie is indeed facing more layoffs, then it's about a franchise that measures up to Sony's expectations and clearly falls short.
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One could of course say, “If only Bungie could do better Fate 2then Sony wouldn't have to make the unfortunate decision to shut it down,” and maybe, from a certain perspective, that's true. Bungie has made a lot of mistakes over the years and Fate 2 it didn't end up on its last update by accident. The game struggled with content reshuffling, integration issues, season fatigue, uneven expansion, and a lingering feeling that it was getting harder and harder for anyone outside of the most dedicated players to keep up.
At the same time, Sony bought Bungie know Fate 2 was an aging live-services game, and that means Sony also took on the responsibility of deciding what its future would look like after The Final Shape was released. This expansion was the cleanest transition point the franchise has ever had, as it wrapped up the saga of Light and Darkness and gave Bungie a natural opportunity to move players from one era to another. If only Sony really believed Fate still worth building around, that would be the time to protect your investment with green lighting Fate 3or at least Bungie's move towards major innovation Fate a project with a bright future.
At least it would Fate 2 players hope for what is to come and would likely remain committed to the game despite its flaws. After The Final Shape, many players felt this Fate 2 it reached a point where it should have ended, but that was really only contextualized by the content that followed. Most agreed with everything Fate 2 was trying to achieve after its last major expansion didn't create enough of a future for live service play and player numbers dwindled as a result. But if they knew Fate 3 it's been in the works, maybe that content would be enough to get them interested because at least they'd know the franchise has a bigger long-term goal worth investing in.
Sony bought Bungie knowingly Fate 2 was an aging live-services game, and that means Sony also took on the responsibility of deciding what its future would look like after The Final Shape was released.
This is why the reported lack of a Fate 3 green light so important. According to Bungie's latest reports, it currently does not Fate 3 or other specific new project greenlit for the Fate 2 team, with the studio expected to begin incubating future projects after that instead Fate 2 receiving the last live service content update on June 9, 2026. This does not prove that Bungie formally Fate 3 and Sony refused, but it still means that the next number Fate the game was apparently not approved in time to give the franchise a future.
So yes, Bungie's past decisions have helped Fate 2 in this position. Still, Sony had a chance to decide it FateThe future of the game was worth fighting for beyond the confines of an aging live-services game, and as far as public knowledge goes, that wasn't an option. Fate 3 perhaps this was the clearest way to convince players of this Fate it was still a franchise with a future, rather than a game that was being preserved after its prime years had already passed. Without that, it's hard to pin the blame solely on Bungie, as the future players they needed was ultimately something only Sony could fund.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T for TEEN for blood, language and violence
