Destiny 2's new content roadmap may be a result of 'Sony discipline'

Bungie is making big changes to Destiny 2's content roadmap to better reflect a tighter budget and more consistent cadence.

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Like most game companies that are still around today, Bungie has recently enacted layoffs in a bid to keep costs under control. Bungie is also refining how it releases new Destiny 2 content as part of these cost-saving plans, going for a more systemic approach with multiple updates rather than a major annualized expansion. This new content structure comes months after two big events at Bungie: The launch of Destiny 2's Final Shape expansion, and the layoff of hundreds of Bungie employees.

Interestingly enough, it looks like Destiny 2's new roadmap is a result of "Sony discipline." The PlayStation-maker bought Bungie earlier in 2023 for $3.7 billion, and although Bungie is to remain an independent company within SIE, they're still bound to earnings targets. If Bungie keeps missing these targets, Sony can reportedly dissolve Bungie's board of directors and take full control of the Destiny developer.

This pressure to deliver specific operating income margins is apparently the impetus for the layoffs, and the new roadmap. In a recent LinkedIn post, Bungie's former lawyer Don McGowan lent his thoughts on the situation at the studio, saying that he believes Destiny 2 should 'be run like a business':

"Much though it pains me to say this, it appears that Sony's inflicting some discipline on my former colleagues may have forced them to fix the things that were wrong with their game.

"This is the future I thought the company should embrace after the Sony acquisition: a studio, not an 'independent company.'"

Bungie has outlined its changes with Destiny 2 with a new blog post, but here's a quick breakdown:

Destiny is at its best when it's mysterious, weird, and not afraid to try new things. This shift to nonlinear stories isn't something we're locking ourselves into, but it is the structure that fits Codename: Apollo best. The narrative structure of the releases that follow will be quite different, a structure to suit that game's experience, and we want to continue to innovate with each expansion across both gameplay and narrative.

Instead of three Episodes, we will be building four Major Updates per year, one every three months. Each Expansion will launch alongside a Major Update at the start of a Season, and then a second Major Update will follow three months later to refresh the Core Game with new and reprised content including:

• Activities: Strikes, Exotic missions, or entirely new modes like Onslaught
• Rewards: weapons, armor, Artifact Mods, Exotics, and more
• New weekly events
• New features
• Combat meta and balance updates

The big Seasonal resets will still happen, but now twice a year, alongside the Expansions.