Minimum Wage Nerd

Destiny 2, and Destiny as a franchise really, has had a rollercoaster existence since the first Guardians awoke in the Cosmodrome in 2014. In the universe, players would go on to challenge gods and fight against the apocalypse in the decade that followed as part of the Light and Darkness Saga.

The first saga has since ended and Bungie began the Fate Saga, starting with The Edge of Fate as Guardians ventured to Kepler at the behest of the mysterious Nine.

As much of a rollercoaster as the universe has experienced, though, players have been on an even crazier rollercoaster during that same period. Destiny and Destiny 2 would experience extreme highs and lows, whether it was the first Destiny being meme’d to death in its first year for a seemingly non-existent narrative to Destiny 2: Forsaken breathing new life into the sequel after a rocky first year.

This cycle continued with the release of The Edge of Fate, which seemingly encapsulates the ups-and-downs Destiny 2, alone, has experienced in roughly three and a half months.

The Edge of Fate faced its fair share of criticism, either, especially as the weeks went on and players dug into all the reworks Bungie introduced in the new expansion. One point of criticism ended up being the new Portal system, which was intended to help feed players into the game faster. However, many complained in its initial state that it was still too unwielded and failed to consistently communicate information to players clearly.

Criticism only intensified after the Ash & Iron update, which left many players disappointed with an apparent lack of content and bugs that would take weeks to get out of the game. The addition of the Heliostat exotic mission was a welcome addition in the weeks that followed the Ash & Iron update, but ultimately didn’t change players’ feelings on the update’s total content.

On the other hand, THE Edge of Fate did receive praise from across the player community for delivering what many felt was one of the best expansion narratives in Destiny’s history. Many in the community praised Bungie’s narrative team for their willingness to tackle the Nine, beings that have been one of Destiny’s deepest and longest-standing mysteries. Outside of Xur and The Emissary, players only had theories about who or what the Nine were and why they chose to interact with Guardians when and where they did.

There was also plenty of praise for the newest character to join the Destiny universe, Lodi. Portrayed by Brian Villalobos, Lodi is revealed to be an agent from 1960s Chicago working for a space agency known as the Department of External Observation who ended up being pulled forward in time by the Nine. Players and critics had almost universal praise for Villalobos’ performance as Lodi along with the writing team for how strongly written Lodi is.

A strong narrative wouldn’t be enough to keep players from leaving the game, and they would in record numbers before Destiny 2 finally hit its all-time lowest active player count in October 2025.

Bungie hasn’t been sitting on its hands, though, as multiple updates have rolled out in an attempt to address various player issues and entice them to come back to the game. These included simplifying the Portal, addressing gear drops and leveling, Unstable Core usage and economy and various other issues.

These arrived at the perfect time to as Destiny 2’s annual Halloween event, Festival of the Lost, is live as of this writing, and has been met with generally positive feedback. Several players and content creators said while there is still work to be done, the changes made to the Portal and making high-tier gear drops and leveling easier were steps in the right direction. Combine this with the positive feedback for the Festival’s new activities, Haunted Altars of Sorrow and Red Rumble, and there hasn’t been as much of a malaise around the game as there had been.

Bungie has confirmed even more changes will becoming over the next year, with the next batch of major updates set to arrive in December with the new expansion, Renegades.

Then there is the departure of longtime Bungie CEO Pete Parsons in August 2025.

Parsons had long been a controversial figure within the Destiny community for the state of the game, and Bungie as a whole. As the studio’s CEO, he was commonly one frustrated players pointed to as one of several executives in Bungie responsible for the state of Destiny and Destiny 2. The executive would only add fuel to the fire when showing off his personal car collection on social media amid mass layoffs all across the games industry, including within Bungie.

When he announced his departure from Bungie, many in the community were quick to jump on social media to give their own “goodbyes” to the now-former Bungie CEO.

In the same post announcing his departure, longtime Bungie developer and executive Justin Truman was confirmed to be taking over as the new Head of Studio. Truman was no stranger to controversy, himself, as several years earlier he faced blowback for a presentation he did at the 2022 Game Developers Conference where he said studios need to be careful not to “overdeliver” so as to manage customer expectations for future releases.

Truman indirectly addressed this as part of Parson’s departure announcement with a playful line about hoping to “overdeliver” when it comes to building worlds players want to invest in.

It should be noted that while Truman will be the new Head of Studio, he will not be taking over as CEO as Sony becomes more directly involved with Bungie after acquiring the studio in 2022.

As for what the future holds, that remains to be seen.

The departure of Parson, promotion of Truman, and Sony’s more direct involvement with the studio all happening so close together was jarring for the community, but it is something that they likely won’t be felt in full until 2026. It can typically take time for the impact of a major executive shakeup to be felt across a whole company, especially a game developer, and it would not be surprising if that was the same at Bungie.

As for the game itself, Destiny 2 doesn’t appear to be going anywhere despite player counts hitting record lows. Renegades is still on the way and already has some fans excited for what is to come in the next entry of the Fate Saga.

Renegades will send Guardians back to Mars to face off with a new Cabal force amassing on the red planet, dubbed the Barant Imperium, and a superweapon it has been developing. To do so, Guardians will need to collaborate with multiple crime syndicates operating out of a thriving black market on Mars known as Tharsis Outpost. Guardians will be working with The Drifter and a Warlock from the Praxic Order, as well, to stop a dangerous new Dredgen that is connected to the Imperium’s efforts.

Renegades also marks the first collaborative expansion Bungie has produced for Destiny 2 as the studio partnered with Lucasfilm Games to create a Star Wars-inspired experience inside the game. This ranges from the space western influences on the narrative, gear, and overall aesthetic. The Barant Imperium’s design is very much inspired by the Galactic Empire while the Praxic Order and Dredgens serve as stand-ins for the Jedi and Sith, respectively.

More general changes and updates are set to arrive, as well, to continue improving the player experience after the first set of changes rolled out. These include additional vault space, the Orders system to streamline how players earn rewards with daily and weekly objectives to complete. Bungie said the idea is to make it so player’s don’t have to worry as much about loadout management “or step away from the activities you and your fireteam are interested in.”

And more updates are planned through the first half of 2026, though details have not been outlined as of this writing.

It remains to be seen if this will be enough for Destiny, as a whole, to recover from the latest valley it found itself in. It isn’t the first time the game has been in this sort of low and wouldn’t be the first time its managed to claw itself out of it. That said, only time will tell if the Destiny experience continues to be one of peaks and valleys or if the changes in the game and at Bungie means some long awaited stability for both.