Bungie has sent out a new press release claiming that Destiny 2’s final DLC, The Final Shape, is still releasing on February 2024.
On the press release published on their website, Bungie shared this statement:
“Season of the Wish is the final Season for Destiny 2 before The Final Shape expansion launches on February 27, 2024, with all-new Episodes to follow.”
As shared on reddit, Jason Schreier was quick to respond to this news, saying “Don’t get your hopes up.”
We had reported at the beginning of the month that Bungie recently laid off 100 of their employees, comprising 8 % of their workforce. As Schreier had reported for Bloomberg, the company itself made this call after revealing to employees that they were missing Destiny 2 revenue expectations by as much as 45 %.
Thanks to Schreier, we also know that the company decided to delay The Final Shape after receiving OK feedback from testers, when they needed this DLC to be really good to entice players back.
After reports of these layoffs came out, Bungie released a statement to the fans, promising that they were going to make The Final Shape an “unforgettable experience” that “honors what came before.”
Now, some fans may have missed this, but Bungie did not officially confirm that The Final Shape was delayed. While some gamers take Schreier’s word as good as official, it is important that we make that distinction.
So, is this a case of Schreier’s word vs Bungie’s? Well, pretty much. It is possible that Bungie really did decide to delay The Final Shape before, but after Schreier’s report, and the public reaction, they have changed their mind.
Of course, it is also a possibility that Bungie had no intention of delaying the DLC at all, or alternately, that speculation on the delay is widely exaggerated. What we think is possible is Bungie is making changes now to make sure that The Final Shape will make that February 27, 2024 release date as promised.
Unfortunately, it is most likely that does mean that Bungie’s remaining employees are crunching to catch up to the necessary work right now. To be clear, there is no evidence or insider testimony confirming this. But if we are speculating on the ways that Bungie can deliver, we have to consider this.
Another possibility, perhaps one that is more positive, is that PlayStation has intervened to help Bungie get the DLC done. They may have assigned one or several of their other studios, such as Nixxes or Santa Monica Studio, to assist Bungie.
Of course, there’s the chance that Schreier is right and Bungie is just lying right now. We won’t take sides on this, but it’s important to understand where we are standing and that this is the case of one side’s word vs another at this moment.
