Destiny fans can expect to wait a little while longer to get the next big game from Bungie as the Destiny developer has pushed back Destiny 2 past its original target date of September 2016.
Destiny originally was supposed to launch in September 2013, but was pushed back an entire year because the the leadership at Activision and Bungie thought the story was “too campy and linear” and decided to start the whole story from scratch.
This pushed their bi-yearly release schedule back a year which lead to the game launching in September 2014. Court documents that were published last September described the release system for Destiny to have full copy physical disc releases every two years until 2019 with major digital content releases or DLC to fill the gaps in the years between. With the initial delay that would put the next big release for the franchise this September, but Kotaku reports (via Gamespot) that the studio won’t be ready to release the second iteration of Destiny when September rolls around.
With the revenue pressures from Activision, the developer’s inefficient designer tools, and a demanding release schedule, it’s no surprise that there has been such an evolution of how the game is being released. “According to people familiar with goings-on at the studio,” Kotaku reports, “One of the reasons Bungie has no roadmap is that they may not know exactly what’s coming down the road. Plans for Destiny’s future are constantly in flux. As an example, just last week higher-ups at Bungie delayed ‘Destiny 2’ out of this September.”
By this point, changes aren’t a big surprise to Destiny fans as the original plan to release major DLC packs throughout 2016 has been changed for smaller event-based offerings like Festival of the Lost or Sparrow Racing. The next event is called “Crimson Days” and will be set around Valentine’s Day featuring a new 2v2 Crucible variant entitled Crimson Doubles.
Bungie also promised a larger update after the February event as Deej announced, “There are more stories about 2016 that remain to be told, and you’ll learn more as soon as I get my own anxious hands on the full and final details.” To spur up more controversy, Bungie has been taking months of PvP Crucible match data and rating players without them even knowing it.