Three months after Destiny 2’s final update, Bungie has announced plans to reinstate vaulted campaigns, raids, and destinations to regain player trust.
In a blog post, Poria Torkan (studio head) and Josh Deane (head of product, general manager of Marathon) described Destiny as “foundational to Bungie’s future,” stating the studio has “more stories to tell [and] new worlds to build.”
Earlier this year, Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2 development, resulting in layoffs affecting 292 employees.
“The consequences have been real,” Torkan said in a video on Bungie’s YouTube channel. “We lost trust. We lost incredible colleagues. And our ambitions as a studio stalled. We chased vision without enough focus on what players loved, and that’s on us. We own that.”
Both executives acknowledged player backlash following the end of Destiny 2 development and the removal of content.
Since 2020, Bungie has archived Destiny 2 content to prioritise new additions in later expansions. Deane stated these features should have “never been ripped away to begin with.”
“They were an essential part of our journey together and definitely a place where we built memories with you all. That first step, that restoration, will hopefully lay the foundation for how we reforge into new Destiny stories and games that you all deserve and that we want to create.”
“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.”
Marathon update
Bungie also updated its roadmap for Marathon, which “did not reach as many players as [it] had hoped.”
“Marathon is an important part of shaping where Bungie goes next, but it was never intended to replace Destiny,” it said. “The game launched to strong critical reception, and the players who embraced Marathon connected deeply with what makes it distinct.”
Deane stated that Bungie will adjust its approach to Marathon and “evolve it beyond the genre constraints that we placed on it.”
“We’re going to expand Marathon into a deeper survival experience that gives players more ways to take on its dangerous alien world. Our goal by the end of year one for Marathon is to preserve what you already love, but find ways to provide players with more agency in how you play.”
Future roadmap for Bungie
Bungie has outlined four core commitments as it works to regain player trust with Destiny and Marathon. These are:
- Build a stronger long-term future for Destiny, while honouring 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
Torkan acknowledged that Bungie has “made these commitments before” and that it “understand[s] the scepticism.”
“Rebuilding trust is going to take time. And we’re not going to do it with words. We’re going to do it through the games that we make and how we show up for our players. We still have hard work ahead of us to build a Bungie that is healthy, sustainable, and able to be around for a long time, but we believe deeply in the studio, the people here, and the games we are building. Now, we have to prove it.”