Why Destiny 3 Isn’t Happening Anytime Soon
Following Bungie’s announcement of updates to the Destiny Content Vault on Thursday, fans on Twitter and Reddit have begun to discuss the need for Destiny 3, and why Bungie has refused to move on from Destiny 2.
For an in-depth breakdown of Thursday’s announcement, check out the article I wrote about it here.
What Destiny 3 Would Bring
The biggest thing that D3 would bring is an update to the core structure of the game. Many players have recognized that the entire reason that the DCV exists is due to the way that Destiny 2 is made. In the original DCV blog post last year, Bungie confirmed that Destiny 2 couldn’t be effectively maintained in its current state. “Destiny 2 is too large to efficiently update and maintain,” they stated. “The size and complexity of the game are also contributing to more bugs and less innovation.”
Hypothetically speaking, the existence of D3 could eliminate the need for the DCV, and could also support updates to the core functions of the game, such as subclasses and gameplay changes.
The creation of D3 could also allow for a better revamp to the New Light experience. New Light, the introduction section for new players into the game, is not in a good state right now — and that's partially due to the fact that the DCV exists. As it stands, new players complete a set of short story missions with an NPC that is only relevant for an hour and are immediately thrown into the current seasonal activities. That is, the absence of the core story campaigns caused by the DCV is crippling to the New Light experience. The only way to solve this issue is to re-release the previous campaigns and story elements, which only seems to be possible with the creation of D3.
Why Destiny 3 Isn’t Happening
The first and most obvious reason that D3 isn’t happening is that Bungie straight up said it isn’t. During Beyond Light’s ViDoc last year, Bungie confirmed that they are sticking with Destiny 2 for the long haul. Any changes to Destiny would have to come after The Final Shape Expansion, slotted for 2023.
The second reason is money and manpower. During Forsaken, the final expansion with Activision’s influence, Bungie had the financial support of Activision and the developmental assistance from Vicarious Visions. Since Bungie’s split with Activision in 2019, they no longer have support from either studio. In fact, Bungie’s Game Director, Luke Smith, confirmed in 2020’s Director’s Cut that the reason the seasonal model exists in Destiny is that it is more financially stable for Bungie to maintain and avoids crunching in the company.
The final reason is community backlash. Assuming Bungie somehow managed to gather enough financial power and staff to effectively develop D3, it would absolutely require the dropping of D2’s current game model — and potentially game development altogether. Currently, D2 is a live-service game, which means that it receives periodic updates throughout the year. It is insane to think that Bungie can effectively develop D3 while simultaneously developing and releasing content for D2 throughout the year.
On top of this, D3 would have to innovate somewhere. The problem with this is that Bungie is constantly innovating with new story and gameplay changes that come with each season in D2, which has clearly been successful this year. According to Steam Charts, D2 grew over 50% in September 2021 and has maintained its position in the top 10 most played games on Steam for multiple weeks. What Bungie is doing with D2 right now is clearly working, so why pour all of those resources somewhere else that would force the current game to die?
At the end of the day, I understand the community’s frustration with Bungie’s seasonal model and the DCV. Does it suck that content is being removed from the game? Absolutely. Do I understand why it needs to be? Yes. Without the existence of the DCV, D2 would be in a much worse state than it is today. And when you think about it, D2 is more popular than it ever has been! With the way things are going, I’m not sure if we’ll ever see a D3, even after the Light and Dark saga ends in 2023.
