In case you haven’t been following the saga of Destiny 2, things aren’t looking so good for the ‘forever game’ whose story kicked off over a decade ago. Player morale has been in freefall for a while now, compounded by the disastrous launch of the ‘Portal’ – an ill-thought-out replacement to the game’s seasonal content system – and some time-hostile decisions about power levels and loot.
Before we dig into the latest disaster plaguing the Solar System, let’s do a quick recap. I’ve already shared my scepticism about the inclusion of the Star Wars licence in Bungie’s shared world shooter, and we heard back in August that ex-Bungie CEO Pete Parsons was to step down as head of the company after a series of gaffes and controversies. In the summer, I assessed the issue with the game and its impossible task of retaining current players, and teasing back lapsed ones. Before that – way back in 2023 – I wrote about how the layoff of Michael Salvatori marked the beginning of the end for the series. And it looks like, sadly, I may have been right.
Over the weekend, a new tool appeared online that lets us dig into the player count of Destiny 2 in a way we’ve never been able to before. Previously, we’ve used data from SteamDB; whilst it shows us one element of the MMOFPS’ popularity, its use is limited to Steam players, only. This new tool, popularity.report courtesy of rich-destiny, is far more granular, and shows just how dire the issue is for Bungie ahead of the Renegades update due to launch later this year.
As you can see from the chart, if accurate, overall player numbers are – by far – the worst we’ve ever seen. Notably, the falloff here is even worse than the Curse of Osiris era (marked in yellow on the chart), which saw the community in complete rebellion against Bungie as players lamented the short story, the repetitive patrol area, a weak endgame, and a complete fumbling of the sandbox. Weirdly, now, some eight years later, we’re in the exact same spot, with players bemoaning an unsatisfying story, repetitive encounters and activities, a terrible endgame, and a frustrating and unengaging meta and endgame. Funny how history repeats itself.