Destiny 2 is over. Bungie announced today that its last “live service” update is coming in June, after which Bungie will move on to other projects it has “incubating.”
Fans are naturally upset, though not entirely caught off guard: The mood is rueful and a bit resigned, with plenty of gallows humor and speculation about Bungie’s future. And the big question is whether Bungie can bounce back from the end of Destiny 2 and a so-so launch for Marathon to do what everyone expects it to: Make Destiny 3.
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Longtime Destiny streamer Aztecross is hosting a live reaction to the news at the time of writing. Cross seems optimistic about the series’ future, asserting that “until I see the words ‘Destiny 3 will never happen,’ I’m going to believe.”
As for what he’d want to see from such a game, Cross advocated for a return to a “50/50 split between gunplay and abilities” in the game’s balance, but said that he’d “leave narrative [requests] for narrative-minded people” like the Destiny lore expert Byf.
User TastyOreoFriend on the Destiny subreddit noted that there is still the matter of Bungie’s incubation projects: Last year, The Verge reported that one of them, codenamed “Gummy Bears,” was spun off into an entirely new studio. The outlook is dim for the others, however, given the waves of layoffs Bungie has suffered in recent years.
Content creator Chris Ray Gun called the announcement “bittersweet.” He argued a position similar to PC Gamer brand director (and Destiny freak) Tim Clark: The beloved Final Shape expansion made for a satisfying end to Destiny 2’s arc, diminished by what’s come after.
Some, like Master-Molasses420 on the Destiny subreddit, are taking the time to eulogize the game. Others are just trying to laugh through the pain. We may all remember this moment in the years to come: “Where were you when Destiny 2 was kill?”
What do you think is next for Bungie? This company has survived momentous transitions in culture and technology before: Chicago to Washington. Microsoft to Activision to Sony. Mac to Xbox to PlayStation to PC (and back to PlayStation). Is Destiny 3 walking through that door, or is this just the middle of the beginning of the end for the House that Halo Built?
No matter what, the deck seems stacked against an industry legend: Marathon—though excellent—has not performed like the studio needed. Destiny, the series that defined Bungie’s last 15 years (including D1’s development), is on hiatus for who knows how long.
Sony has signaled a move away from both PC and live service games—both form the studio’s heartland. The ball is in Bungie’s court to come from behind and prove its naysayers wrong. It’s managed this before, but things have never felt quite so dire.
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