Bungie announces a return for Destiny 2's vaulted content and a new future for the studio

In late May of this year, Bungie announced that Destiny 2 would be going into maintenance mode and that the Monument of Triumph update on June 9th would be the last major update for the game. Shortly after it released, Bungie layed off hundreds of employees, most of whom were on the Destiny team. The studio did not say that the Destiny IP would be dormant forever, instead hinting that the folks still at Bungie were incubating future projects in the franchise.

Today, with an introduction to their new leadership, Bungie has announced that their vision of the future has shifted once again: Destiny 2 will be receiving its previously removed campaigns, destinations, and raids that were pulled from the game after the Beyond Light expansion released in 2021. That includes the original Red War vanilla campaign, the Curse of Osiris and Warmind releases, and about half of the Forsaken expansion. Bungie did not specify if the game's Strikes and Crucible maps will be returning at this time.

While the developers are excited to bring back the old content, they did say that it wouldn't be as easy as flipping a switch. "Changes made to Destiny 2 since Beyond Light require us to update lighting, encounters, combatants, and other underlying systems. That work will take time, but it is necessary to ensure returning content meets the stability and gameplay standards of Destiny 2 today."

Beyond unvaulting content, Bungie is committing to putting Destiny back at the center of its portfolio with new updates to Destiny 2 and future "stories and games." Whether that means a Destiny 3 or a new smaller games within the IP will be something we have to wait and see.

Bungie did also touch on the Marathon news from last week. They said that the goal for Marathon by the end of Year 1 is to do more than just reinforce what people already love about the game. They also plan to expand the title with dedicated PvE modes, PvP options, and more, stating they're going to "expand Marathon to a deeper survival experience, that gives players more ways to take on this dangerous alien world."

Bungie is promising a bold new direction for the studio, refocusing on what makes their studio successful and bringing the mystery and discovery and community back to the core of their games. As time goes on, we'll be sure to keep you updated on their promise.