The Destiny 2 Status

S T A T U S

With the recent upheaval at Bungie HQ, veteran players have serious questions about the status of Destiny 2 moving forward. As Season 22: Season of the Witch comes to a close and Season 23: Season of the Wish is Scheduled to arrive November 28th, game enthusiasts like myself wonder how much longer Destiny 2 can continue as a Live Service video game.

July 2022, Bungie was purchased by Sony for $3.6 billion dollars. This acquisition shows the amount of confidence Sony had in the video game studio. Obviously, Bungie is expected to earn substantial revenue giving Sony return on their massive investment. Unfortunately, news recently surfaced that the Developer missed their projected revenue goal by 45%.

How could a projection goal land 45% below Bungie's target? Did the Developer over-promise profit margins to influence the Sony takeover? Was there a massive dropoff in player engagement and microtransactions during the past year? If so, is this because of player burnout or a drop in Content quality from Bungie? Perhaps.

The elephant in the room is the news of Bungie's new IP, Marathon. The Developer is creating a new sci-fi PvP extraction shooter complete with dedicated servers. Yes, the dedicated servers Destiny 2 players have been clamoring for, but not getting for years. In the process of making this new game, veteran players have been complaining about the lack of attention being given to PvP in Destiny 2.

From new Crucible maps to ritual armor, Bungie has been accused of ignoring PvP in Destiny 2 for several months. With news of Bungie Staff moving on to work on Marathon with no viable replacements for them to continue expanding Destiny 2's PvP gaming experience, players began to sour on Developer more than usual. Should they feel betrayed? Forgotten or taken advantage of?

Marathon is the future of Bungie. However, Destiny 2 is keeping the Developer afloat. It's what players are paying for right now. No one is playing Marathon today and won't be able to for several months. Making things worse, there are reports that initial player feedback from play testing of Marathon was not great. Soon after these reports leaked, news spread that Marathon's Release Date has been postponed.

Eric.. all of this sounds bad.

L A Y O F F S

It gets worse. About two weeks ago, Bungie laid off around 8% of their employees. While I'm unsure if employees felt the layoffs approaching, tweets began to appear on X as shocked employees notified their Followers that they had just been terminated from their positions at Bungie. Naturally, this sent shockwaves through the Destiny 2 Community as long-time Staff members questioned how they would pay their mortgage.

To make matters worse, many lost Employee Shares in the company because of their sudden dismissal and they only had access to full benefits for one day after their termination. Without question, Bungie looks to be saving money however they can at the expense of those previously employed. An underhanded tactic which makes the Developer look cruel.

While there are reports of the entire Gaming Industry losing 6,000 jobs as corporations try to rescue profit margins, we heard that Sony allocated $1.2 billion dollars for employee retention. Bungie employees were told their careers were safe. However, the Developer recently announced that the $1.2 billion dollars has already been spent. Bungie is losing money and would have gone under without the acquisition of Sony.

Did Sony know how bad the Developer was doing financially?

S E A S O N S

The Seasonal Model has grown stale. I declined the purchase of Season 21 to take a break from the routine grind. Complaints of too many microtransactions in the video game has only grown louder in 2023. Looking back at this year, it makes sense. Maintaining a Live Service game while creating new Content year-around is expensive. More expensive than any of us realized. Bungie uses EverVerse to keep the ship afloat. Understandable. But microtransactions have gotten out of control. Every one feels it, Developer and Player alike.

Months ago, Bungie announced adjustments to Seasons based on player feedback (..some would call it complaints). Still, the game is developed at least six months ahead of Schedule. Any changes made are not implemented right way. Which means, players have to wait half a year before significant Seasonal Model improvements are seen in Destiny 2.

After the enormous success of the major expansion, The Witch Queen, Bungie was poised to keep the momentum going with the following major expansion, Lightfall. Because players enjoyed The Witch Queen expansion so much, more people than ever flocked to Lightfall. However, this major expansion, while good, was not received as successfully. Some players expected more from the Story Campaign while the Seasonal Activity grind basically stayed the same in Style. Clearly, Seasons need a fresh approach that will not come until near Winter 2023.

D E S T I N Y 3

There are no official reports of Destiny 3 on the horizon. To date, the Developer has laid out plans to continue gameplay in Destiny 2. When previous employees suggested Bungie's Ownership team is responsible for the Developer's financial woes, players began to ponder the release of Destiny 3 ...yet again. The D3 Release has been speculated for years, but never happened. When the game is struggling, players wonder if Bungie is going to end D2 to create a fresh approach ..or at least continue the D2 storyline in what would become a trilogy.

Each time, Bungie continues to develop the game under Destiny 2. However, this time feels different because along with improvements needed to the Seasonal Model, players would like Destiny to be built in a new Gaming Engine. Dedicated Servers would be nice. Speaking of dedicated, how about having a dedicated team for PvP, Strikes, and Gambit? How many years has it been since Gambit received a new Map?

The structure of the Development Team seems to be mismanaged. The ritual activities that make up the core gameplay are placed on the back burner while most of the team works on temporary new activities that change from one Season to the next. The Seasonal activity players focus on now, will not exist in the game a year from now. With new Content being added each Season, the game would become too large. So, Content is removed to make room for the new. Yet, the same ritual activities will be here year after year...after year.

My conclusion? I don't believe Destiny can continue as a Live Service game. Bungie is managing too many projects at one time and one Live Service game is consuming the bulk of their revenue. I believe Destiny should become a stand-alone game with a clear beginning and end. No more adjustments to weapons and armor mid-Season. Simply Release the finished game and see how players respond to it.

The recent God of War games have this model and they seem to be successful, though I haven't played the sequel myself. God of War (2018) is one of my all-time favorites and I really wasn't a fan of GoW before then. Only time will tell what happens with the Destiny Saga. At the very least, I plan to purchase Season 23: Season of the Wish in hopes of finding out how this Light/Darkness story arc ends. How about you? ecj