Despite its next expansion, Renegades, launching this week, Bungie’s Destiny 2 hasn’t been doing so hot. After The Edge of Fate, player numbers slowly but steadily dropped to record lows due to the Power level changes, new tiered gear, introduction of Portal, and more.
While the development team has made several changes, game director Tyson Green told IGN that there was a plan after The Final Shape. “We looked at the problem that we had, and we said, ‘We think there’s a route here,’ which is leaning into more systems of pursuit, getting new tiers of gear, armor sets, and power progression, and things like challenge customization.
“These things that can allow a core audience of players to really say, like, ‘I’m really gonna take this game and put it through its paces, and get good rewards for it.’
Things didn’t work out as planned, but Green says the team is committed to responding to feedback and not being a “dead live game.” “It sounds great on paper, but it didn’t work. I think we’ve been taught a bunch of hard lessons about what our players want, and there are really two kinds of live games: those that listen to the players and respond, and those that don’t.
“And we don’t want to be a dead live game, we want to keep building Destiny. So we’re listening to our players, and what our players are telling us is that they don’t want to chase a simple number that goes up, they want real rewards.”
Destiny 2: Renegades launches on December 2nd for Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Though Star Wars-themed and created in collaboration with LucasArts, it’s more of a Destiny-flavored interpretation of the IP, complete with Praxic Blades as lightsabers and the Barant Imperium in place of the Empire. There’s even Bael, a Sith-like antagonist who gives major Kylo Ren vibes with his voice (complete with a Revan-like mask).
Check out some of the new Exotics, including a Titan jetpack, and weapons, here. You can also find out more about the gameplay, which looks very Helldivers 2 inspired.
