Destiny 3 has been the subject of intense speculation since its developer Bungie announced it was laying off 17 per cent of its workforce earlier this week.
Rumours of the threequel first surfaced in March when a prominent Destiny leaker claimed it was officially a go, under the code name Payback.
However, new revelations have thrown cold water over those claims and possibly dashed all hopes of its release. Here’s what we know about the layoffs at Bungie and the ill-fated game some had pegged for Destiny 3.
What is happening at Bungie?
The wave of layoffs currently ripping through the video game industry has left a trail of cancelled games in its wake.
Sony subsidiary Bungie is the latest casualty. The developer has just undergone its second round of mass layoffs since last October (when an estimated 100 staffers lost their jobs), sparking concern over the fate of its biggest franchise, the galactic looter-shooter Destiny.
The wide-ranging job cuts have affected high-profile figures at the developer like Kwan Perng, the narrative lead for Destiny 2’s smash hit The Final Shape expansion. Shortly after its release in June, the DLC helped the sequel reach over 314,000 players on Steam, marking its second highest-peak in engagement.
For those unfamiliar, Bungie is a US-based developer that was previously owned by Microsoft before returning to its roots as an independent studio in 2007. Sony then acquired it for $3.6 billion in 2022 in a bid to capture more players across platforms such as PC and Xbox.
Along with Destiny, Bungie is best known for creating the influential Halo series (another first-person shooter that pits players against menacing aliens in epic, laser show battles).
Is Destiny 3 confirmed?
What a difference a month makes, eh? Following that massive boost to its player numbers in June, Destiny fans are now debating the future of the multiplayer action series.
Until recently, the gaming community was abuzz with rumours of Destiny 3. The chatter was ignited in March by a reputable tipster on Reddit who claimed that Bungie had been working on the game since as far back as The Witch Queen DLC from 2022.
The leaker, who had previously been proven right about the introduction of a new Prismatic subclass in Destiny 2, said he had gleaned the info on Destiny 3 from former Bungie developers.
In a massive departure for the franchise, the next game would do away with subclasses altogether, giving players more freedom to choose between powers, the Reddit poster said.
“Destiny 3 is (was? idk) in development under code name payback. One of the big changes for Destiny 3 is (was, again idk) for classes to no longer exist and allow any character to spec into any ability since lore wise there is no reason you couldn't (Hunters explicitly learned blink from Warlocks and blink isn't tied to a single element, hence the logic there).”
In April, Bungie whipped up the frenzy by teasing plans to continue the Destiny franchise beyond the conclusion of the Light and Darkness saga in The Final Shape expansion.
Fast forward to now and new information has started to emerge about Bungie’s fabled project Payback. In the wake of the layoffs, prominent video games expert Jeff Grubb claimed the developer had shelved the game to focus on Destiny 2 instead.
He clarified that Payback was not technically Destiny 3, but rather a new iteration referred to internally at Bungie as "the next Destiny".
Grubb's statements align with other sources, such as Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who confirmed that Destiny 3 was never in development and that the Payback project was a different spinoff that has since been cancelled.
Yeah. Like I said over and over again. It was never considered Destiny 3. Don't know how else I could've said it. Love that Twitter makes me have to do the weird semantics dance every single time! https://t.co/XYYc9441RB
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) August 1, 2024
What has Bungie said about Destiny 3?
For its part, Bungie has never officially confirmed or announced Destiny 3. Instead, it has repeatedly stated its commitment to continuing and expanding Destiny 2 rather than developing a separate sequel.
What’s next for Destiny?
Speaking of which, Bungie has reassured fans that (in spite of the layoffs) it still has 850 team members working on Destiny 2 and its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. Last year, the developer said that post the Final Shape it would ditch its seasonal model in favour of three larger, standalone story arcs per year.
The move was made as a response to player feedback and aims to provide more focused and impactful narrative experiences, Bungie explained. Each of the three upcoming episodes (entitled Echoes, Revenant and Heresy) will feature its own unique story, quests, activities and rewards, allowing players to dive in without needing to follow every previous season.
Although Bungie said the new approach would enable it to deliver more substantial content and a richer narrative, a new leak on Reddit claims the game’s story updates will be significantly diminished as a result of the overhaul.
These extended episodes will apparently last six months (versus three months currently) and be offered to players free, although the traditional season pass and its rewards will remain in place. That ultimately means Destiny 2 is getting a downgrade from its past schedule of four seasonal updates per year down to two.
To keep things fresh, each episode will feature two intense, week-long Rally events. During these periods, players will be able to unleash the power of seasonal weapons and armour across a variety of game modes, from co-operative PvE challenges to competitive PvP showdowns.
While these claims remain unverified, Grubb has also hinted that Destiny 2 could be moving towards smaller and lighter updates in the future.
