Bungie gave Destiny a death sentence just months ago, and this week, they’ve reversed course and announced Destiny 2 will restore vaulted content thanks to the players.
Bungie has finally said what the players have: Destiny 2 isn’t dead. Since the announcement of the game’s sunsetting development and promising there would be no new updates earlier in the year, fans have refused to let Destiny 2 ride off into the sunset. Bungie unleashed a final update: Monument of Triumph, and due to the number of players who showed up for the final update — one that did not even have any new content but still surpassed the player count of its last two expansions — it was a key moment that helped them decide to restore the entire campaign to Destiny following fan backlash of the closure announcement.
In a developer video and studio blog post, Bungie studio heads Poria Torkan and Josh Deane acknowledge the fanbase’s resentment and plans to earn back player trust, and the first step is “The Next Chapter For Bungie.” The entire video diary announcement, including where the studio says Forsaken is coming back, can be seen below.
In the blog post, Bungie says, “Bungie has been creating games for over 30 years and we have welcomed the communities that have formed around them. Over the last few years, we lost sight of that, and there have been real consequences. We lost trust, we lost incredible colleagues, and we lost sight of what we should be prioritizing most, our players,” adding, “We are not asking you to trust what we say today. We know that trust must be earned through the quality of our games, the decisions we make, and how consistently we show up for our players,” in the reverse course for the studio.
To start, Bungie plans to restore Destiny 2 content archived in the game’s digital Vault. This means vaulted campaigns (yes, Forsaken too), destinations, and raids will become available for Guardians to explore again. Bungie says, “We understand that removing these experiences had a lasting impact on player trust and enjoyment of Destiny,” adding, “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.”
Bungie acknowledges the reason they vaulted content in the first place: updates have made formerly vaulted content incompatible with the current version of Destiny 2. So the team will work to make sure encounters, lighting, and all of the improvements made to the game over the past decade are included in the formerly shelved content. The studio promised to keep fans in the loop for the next coming months regarding progress to restoring Destiny 2 content.
Bungie has admitted Marathon, on the other hand, has fallen short of expectations. The team said, “it did not reach as many players as we had hoped, and we also know and understand that the game needs to evolve.” So far, Bungie has a lot planned for the October Nightfall Refresh and Symbiosis update in December (and removal of the seasonal model), so it remains to be seen how fans react to that content update. Bungie also reiterates that Marathon was never meant to replace Destiny, and it’s still “an important part of shaping where Bungie goes next.”
Regarding Destiny 2, fans are sure to hear something soon in the coming months, and if they don’t, Bungie asks fans to “keep us accountable.” This l;ast statement means fan communication works, and Bungie is listening.
