Bungie has announced a major update coming to Destiny 2 today. Delivered by Poria Torkan, Studio Head at Bungie, and Josh Deane, Head of Product and General Manager of Marathon, the two set out to start a "next chapter" for the game studio. Let's dive into the Bungie Studio Update.
This is a monumental announcement. It isn't exactly a surprise though because Bungie has not been doing too hot with major layoffs taking place at the studio just a couple of months ago on the tails of a failing Marathon. It looks like the final content of Destiny 2 might not be the final content update. Gee, it's almost as if you shouldn't shoot yourself in the foot when you have a highly successful IP.
Destiny 2: We Are Not Done
Bungie has confirmed that they are not done with Destiny, and Destiny 2. This is going to begin with a massive change: the old content is coming back. One of the largest problems players have had with the game is the vaulting of content: completely removing it from public access. It isn't all going to happen right oat once, they have however started to work on bringing back each campaign, destination, and raid.
There are a lot changes that must be made to bring these back. Here's what they had to say.
Quote From Bungie We are not done with Destiny.
We want to return Destiny to its original promise, to recapture the qualities that have always made it special. The awe-inspiring mystery, meaningful discovery, and a community of Guardians coming together against impossible odds.
That begins with restoring important parts of Destiny 2’s history that players can no longer experience today.
We understand that removing these experiences had a lasting impact on player trust and enjoyment of Destiny. Destiny 2 is more than just the content itself. It is a place where players have built memories together, formed lasting friendships, and shared experiences that have stayed with them for years. We cannot change the decision we made, but we can acknowledge its impact and do the work to make it right by restoring these important parts of Destiny’s history.
As we shared in the video, we are beginning the work of bringing vaulted Destiny 2 campaigns, destinations, and raids back into the game, where they will be available to all Destiny 2 players.
Bringing this content back is not as simple as restoring old files. Changes made to Destiny 2 since Beyond Light require us to update lighting, encounters, combatants, and other underlying systems. That work will take time, but it is necessary to ensure returning content meets the stability and gameplay standards of Destiny 2 today.
The restoration of old content is what they call their "first step" in laying a foundation for the future. More details of unvaulting content will arrive in the coming months and that includes more details on how they are going not only celebrate the legacy of the game, but also build its future "with [us]".
Marathon: Evolving
Bungie had the following statement regarding Marathon.
Quote From Bungie Marathon is an important part of shaping where Bungie goes next, but it was never intended to replace Destiny. The game launched to strong critical reception, and the players who embraced Marathon connected deeply with what makes it distinct. At the same time, it did not reach as many players as we had hoped, and we also know and understand that the game needs to evolve.
So, we're going to anchor on what makes Marathon special but evolve it beyond the genre constraints we placed on it. We're going to expand Marathon to a deeper survival experience, that gives players more ways to take on this dangerous alien world.
Through the remainder of Marathon’s first year, we will continue strengthening its combat, world, and competitive tension while giving players more agency in how they engage with the game. That means creating meaningful experiences whether you prefer cooperative PvE, competitive PvP, or the unpredictable tension of Marathon PvPvE.
It’s important to us that no matter your playstyle, or your skill level.... we find better ways to hear from you as we get back to where we need to be: making games you want to play.As you heard last week from Del our Game Director, we still have a lot planned for our October Nightfall Refresh and Symbiosis update in December. You’ll hear more from the team later this week on our future vision for Marathon. Stay tuned.
Marathon is becoming a "deeper survival experience". More improvements are coming this year to various systems. We'll get to hear more about the future vision later this week. Stay tuned.
Trusting Bungie
That's a big one: trust. Many players, myself included, have an eroded sense of trust with the studio after the poor management of Destiny 2. They have a statement about that too.
Quote From Bungie This is an important time for Bungie. Our future depends on making clear choices about where we focus, delivering what we say we will, and being honest about our successes and failures. Stability doesn’t mean shrinking our ambition. It just means that we have to focus on the things you want to see from us, and making sure our vision matches our reality.
How we bring this new Bungie to life has to be through the spirit of putting players at the forefront of what we do. We have to find a way back to making games that we want to play, but with you at the center.
Trust won't be rebuilt through a single blog, video, or release. We also understand that trust extends beyond gameplay. It includes how we value your time, how we communicate, and how we action your feedback. Listening without action means nothing.
As we move forward, we'll measure ourselves against a few core commitments:
Build a stronger long-term future for Destiny, while honoring and restoring its past.
Evolve Marathon to grow our community and build a sustainable future.
Increase transparency around development priorities.
Communicate more consistently, especially when plans change.
We'll hold ourselves accountable to these goals and share what we're learning along the way. We are working with our Community team to establish a consistent way to report against these commitments and will share that approach alongside our next major updates for Destiny and Marathon.
That's great for them to address the fact they know they are fighting uphill, both ways, to regain the trust of the people who love their games. It's good to see they are planning on building a future for the Destiny franchise, whether that's going to be more inside of Destiny 2 or new games that remains to be seen, but it does create some hope that they've had time to plan out a new direction and are giving this another go.
As they said, their future depends on the choices they are making. We saw record numbers in a two-year period for Destiny recently following the launch of the "final" content update for the game showing that the love is still there. Are they going to be able to go to bat and hit a home run? We'll find out soon.
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