In what seems like a recent string of high-profile departures fromDestiny 2developer Bungie, the game’s former Raid Design Lead (who waspromoted to a Design Leada few months ago) has left the company and the franchise. Joe Blackburn, who has also served as a spokesperson for the game’s raids and the development team behind them in numerous developer live streams and ViDocs, announced on Twitter that Friday, August 15, 2025 was his last day at Bungie.
And before conspiracy theorists get too far with the news of this departure and start painting a picture of a Bungie in crisis,Blackburn answered a fan on Twittersaying that his time at Bungie has been “amazing” and that the departure from Bungie is because he received “an exciting opportunity […] in Santa Monica.” While he did not announce where exactly he’ll end up, there are plenty of notable developers in the Santa Monica area including Sony Santa Monica, Riot Games, Treyarch, andNaughty Dog, just to name a few.
Blackburn’s departure is leaving manyDestinyfans with concerns though, considering a number of key developers departing Bungie over the last few weeks. Those include sandbox designers Josh Hamrick, Jon Weisnewski, and Claude Jerome, as well as senior writer Jill Scharr who departed Bungie the same day as Blackburn. All these developers appear to have moved on because of new opportunities.
It’s common for developers in the industry to depart teams and projects during transitions between games, which may very well be happening with Bungie. Aftersplitting from Activision as its publisher, Bungie is moving into the next phase of developing theDestinyfranchise.
Many questions remain aboutDestiny 2’s Year 3 and a possibleDestiny 3, but it is likely that development is done on the game’s Annual Pass content for Year 2, so this may very well be a natural time for developers to come and go from the company and the franchise.
Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
