Bungie announced sweeping new changes to Destiny 2's expansion model as the studio aims to win back players.
The franchise's 10th anniversary introduces the start of a new saga, Codename: Frontiers. Game director Tyson Green said that yearly expansions have "dominated" nearly all of the company's development efforts.
Destiny 2's Expansion Model
He noted that switching models to medium-sized expansions lets the Destiny 2 team become free to "explore and innovate" within the game. The changes to the game's expansion model will start next year with Codename: Apollo.
Destiny 2 will no longer get large-scale expansions and make Apollo become split into two paid updates. These will be summer's Arsenal and fall's Surge. Furthermore, there are four free seasons planned over the course of the expansion's run.
Then, Codename: Behemoth will continue this new trend in winter 2025 and spring 2026. This would be how Bungie moves forward with the game's expansion from then on, according to GameDeveloper.
Following Bungie's layoffs in late July, the studio considered removing yearly expansions and just doing smaller, free content drops. The newly announced approach reflects that idea and was made to address the shooter's longstanding problems.
Green explained that the innovation to the game's expansion model will mean "challenging your idea of what a Destiny experience can be." He added that every single expansion will present a new opportunity to try something new
Every new expansion for Destiny 2 will arrive every six months under the new model that Green announced.
Each one will mark the beginning of a new season, which is available to all players. Every three months will also have free "Major Updates" that will refresh the seasons and introduce new content on their one, said GamesRadar.
Winning Back Players
The game director explained that the shooter has become "too rigid" with expansions starting to feel like they are "too formulaic" and are finished too quickly. He added that seasons and Episodes on the other hand were getting bigger.
Green noted that it was already time for Destiny 2 to "change and evolve," which led to the idea of a new expansion model. Despite this, he said that the team was proud of what they brought players in The Final Shape expansion.
The announcement comes as Bungie is working to win back players as Destiny 2 hit its lowest concurrent players count in history for PC via Steam. This is by enhancing the player experience through the new multi-year saga, according to IGN.
