Destiny 2’s major upcoming expansion The Final Shape, has officially been delayed, Bungie revealed, after reports that it had been delayed following mass layoffs at the studio.
Instead of the previously announced February release date, Destiny players will have to wait until June 4, 2024 to play The Final Shape, and play through a campaign that’s meant to wrap up nearly a decade of storytelling that began with the first game.
“We’ll keep it short and simple.” Bungie began in a blog post announcing the delay. “The Final Shape needs more time to become exactly what we want it to be, so we’re moving its release date to June 4, 2024.”
Bungie continued, “The Final Shape is the culmination of the first ten years of Destiny storytelling and, for Guardians everywhere, countless hours spent together.
We want to honor that journey, so we’re taking the time we need to deliver an even bigger and bolder vision, one that we hope will be remembered and treasured for years to come.”
This delay also now means that the new season which is set to begin tomorrow, Season Of The Wish, will be extended all the way until The Final Shape releases in June, meaning it’ll last nearly four months past its initially intended length.
Bungie will fill the time with more content, moving the Guardian Games up in the schedule and a content update called Into The Light which is meant to help prepare players for The Final Shape.
Though it still remains to be seen if any of this will be enough to satiate players until June.
It also brings into question what the time in between now and The Final Shape’s release will look like for the Destiny 2 landscape, especially after it has already hit a franchise record low in terms of player count.
At this point however, the risk of an even more unstable player count and dwindling engagement ahead of The Final Shape’s release is a risk Bungie is now forced to take, after the studio already admitted that it needs to regain player trust.
Hopefully for Bungie and PlayStation’s sake, the risk will pay off.
Source – [Bungie]