The subsequent main Destiny 2 replace, Shadow and Order, has been delayed by three months, till June 2026.
In a sequence of messages posted to Bluesky, developer Bungie admitted the growth was “present process massive revisions,” and “might be delayed” from its authentic March launch.
“This replace is being modified and expanded to embrace sizable quality-of-life updates and consequently, will even be renamed. This replace will now launch on June 9, 2026,” the studio said. “We’ll present actual particulars nearer to launch masking beforehand introduced Weapon Tier Upgrading, but additionally additions like increasing Tiered Gear to all Raid and Dungeon actions, Pantheon 2.0, Tier 5 stats for Unique Armors, and extra.”
The studio is, in fact, preoccupied getting Marathon out of the door after final week’s State of Play reaffirmed its March 5 launch date. Nonetheless, the delay intimates the studio could also be struggling to juggle all the things on its plate, significantly because it alludes to “sizeable quality-of-life updates.”
“By way of June, we are going to proceed to have routine bug fixes and stability enhancements, continued portal modifiers, Guardian Video games (March), and the return of a extra frequent Iron Banner cadence (April),” Bungie added. “When it comes to communications, we might be focusing on offering you with updates about our dwell sport content material, neighborhood activations, and normal repairs by means of the TWID and our Destiny social channels.”
The assertion closed on thanking gamers for his or her “continued endurance and help,” and stated there will be extra info on the following main replace and future plans for Destiny 2 “nearer to launch.”
“Raids and dungeons getting tiers and pantheon 2.0 is nice, however will there even be anybody left taking part in by then?” requested one participant on the Destiny 2 subreddit. “I nonetheless log on each week and play just a little bit, however no one can deny that renegades was not meant to final six months.”
“Not to be a complete downer, however that actually offers me age of triumph ‘remaining replace’ type vibes of constructing all of the endgame viable,” added one other fan. “Not to point out that is only a main replace in the long run. It isn’t gonna have growth stage content material, however its now releasing proper round when the following growth was supposed to, which I assume can also be delayed at the very least three months. Even with far more content material on this replace, renegades being the growth for 9 months at the very least now could be very unhealthy.”
“Till June is tough. The inhabitants goes to be completely dire by then…,” one participant (*2*), to which somebody replied: “Dire[?] It is dire proper now. Falling off a cliff.”
On the time of writing (when, admittedly, a lot of the U.S. is asleep), there are 10,463 gamers on-line proper now on Steam. As soon as Human, eFootball, and single-player Hole Knight: Silksong all have increased concurrent counts.
It’s undoubtedly a tricky time for Bungie and Destiny 2, with mother or father firm Sony just lately saying the studio has failed to meet its gross sales and consumer engagement expectations. In its newest monetary report, Sony stated it had recorded a 31.5 billion yen (approx. $204.2 million) impairment cost because of Destiny 2’s underperformance. That was important sufficient to drag down earnings at Sony’s Recreation & Community Companies Phase, which incorporates Sony Interactive Leisure.
Following the launch of The Fringe of Destiny growth in July, Destiny 2 noticed a stoop in participant exercise, and Bungie’s crew is feeling the stress. “For years now, Destiny has been on this regular hardening of the core [audience],” sport director Tyson Inexperienced instructed IGN again in November. “An increasing number of core gamers are staying and taking part in the sport, however comparatively few [new] folks come into the sport. There is a tightening and contraction, and this presents issues for a sport that you just’re making an attempt to preserve as a dwell service, particularly if you need to preserve serving these core gamers with nice, compelling expansions.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and marketing consultant with 15+ years expertise working with a few of the world’s largest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.