On October 2023, a whole heap of bad things happened revolving around Bungie and its cash cow, Destiny 2. A reported 8% of Bungie staff were laid off without notice, our worst fears of Bungie putting out a minimum viable product were confirmed, and various inside sources claimed The Final Shape had been delayed.
Nearly a month later, Bungie has finally broken its silence regarding that last bit of news. In a blog post from the Destiny 2 Dev Team and a video from Game Director, Joe Blackburn, players got a small "State of the Union."
When is Destiny 2 The Final Shape being released?
Both pieces of media confirmed that The Final Shape had been delayed to June 4, 2024. This is nearly a four-month delay from the initial February release date. According to the developer, the delay is being taken to "...deliver an even bigger and bolder vision, one that we hope will be remembered and treasured for years to come."
This is after internal playtests found The Final Shape to be "good, but not great." For a company that has the development speed of a sloth swimming in molasses, I don't know how much of a difference an extra four months can make. Polish is one thing, but in addition to making The Final Shape better, the teams are now being split to work on stop-gap projects.
February 2024
Due to Destiny 2's final Season, Season of the Wish, running an extra four months, Bungie is rolling out additional content beginning in February 2024. These first two pieces are the returning Moments of Triumph and the brand new "Wishes."
Moments of Triumph is an annual event where players must complete a set of tasks in the game. These are retroactive and generally focus on the previous year's content. Reaching a certain threshold awards in-game items, a title, and the ability to order a shirt commemorating the event.
"Wishes" are an unknown entity at this time beyond the description of "weekly progression-based quests." If I had to hazard a guess, I would suspect the team is cobbling together an activity that is a new coat of paint on something we've already done, like the Imbaru Engine.
March 2024
Guardian Games is being moved up to March. I'm skeptical despite being told it will have "...a refreshed focus on class vs. class competition." Much like the canceled Crimson Days, Guardian Games quickly turned into a non-event and more of an annual sale of themed gear in the Eververse.
April 2024
"Destiny 2: Into the Light" will be the final piece of new content released before The Final Shape drops. Joe Blackburn, in his video, made the claim that this will be a preparatory content patch for new and old players alike.
I'm really trying not to be negative about this, but Bungie is on the back foot after being found out for giving the least possible effort for the maximum profit in Destiny 2. As such, I'm not inclined to believe that a splinter group of the development team can crank out anything substantial to court players' favor in five months.
May 2024
Three new maps are coming to the Crucible in May: Europa, Neomuna, and one on the Terraformed Pyramid. These are smaller maps akin to the size of Javelin-4. Joe Blackburn explained that these will hopefully feel better for Trials of Osiris players.
Related: Toss a coin to your Guardian with upcoming Destiny 2 Witcher crossover
I want to believe that the Destiny 2 development team is making the most they can out of this unfortunate situation. I believe those on the frontlines are from the developers and playtesters to the community managers.
However, Bungie has burned a lot of goodwill players had. Community sentiment is low, and while it would be amazing to see Destiny 2 make a complete 180, it's highly unlikely. At this point, I suspect Bungie is doing what it can to not end Destiny in failure so they can transfer players to Marathon when it releases in 2025. It's time to put up or shut up.
For more Destiny 2 content, check out Everything coming and going with Season of the Wish in Destiny 2 on Pro Game Guides.
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Destiny 2 The Final Shape’s delay is confirmed and Into the Light is coming in April 2024
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