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Bungie
Destiny 3 was once again trending all weekend. There’s no news on that, of course, and I think this was started by a couple of fan accounts saying, “Anyone else want Bungie to do Destiny 3?” and it spiraled from there.
Of course, it’s not unreasonable to think about Destiny 3 right now. Bungie itself has stated that Destiny 2’s long-running Light and Darkness saga will come to an end next year with The Final Shape. And Destiny 2 is a six-year-old game that can only progress by continually deleting old content, an industry rarity that has angered many fans. But the game is still popular and more important than ever after Bungie was acquired by PlayStation.
I’ll reiterate my theory: After The Final Shape, I believe there will be another trilogy of expansions based on Destiny 2 itself, as Bungie previously indicated that there would be more sagas in Destiny after the conflict between light and darkness would give 2. That would mean that the final D2 expansion would theoretically take place around 2027 and, in my opinion, would be right on the cusp of a new generation of consoles. And if there is a Destiny 3 (which probably won’t be called Destiny 3) it would start from there.
There is a lot of talk about a “new engine” for Destiny 3, including some saying that Bungie should move Destiny to Unreal Engine 5, as well as the recent trend for many games, including even Halo, for future projects. But A) engines don’t solve all problems and B) an old engine can certainly be upgraded and tweaked into something competitive. If you switch engines, you may have trouble fully recreating the “feel” of the game that players love so much from the start, which is obviously one of Destiny’s main draws. I’m just saying that all of Destiny 2’s problems right now can’t simply be boiled down to “the engine” as it’s much more complicated than that. Even if so, a completely new game would include some revisions, I certainly don’t expect a move to UE5.
destiny 2
Bungie
There are pros and cons of a Destiny 3 and how that might be dealt with. On the plus side, a “clean” approach after 7-10 years or whatever it may end up being again would bring the game back to a place where new players could jump in and not literally feel years back and not learn that there is a set of content that they will never be able to play because it has been deleted.
The disadvantages? If this was truly a clean slate, I’m not sure I’d necessarily want to start over with a zeroed Vault and four new planets, and then spend the next 5-10 years redoing everything from Destiny 1 ” renew”. 2 now. It’s been six years and we’re still hauling stuff back from Destiny 1, and I don’t necessarily want to repeat that process with every exotic or strike or zone from the last two games of Destiny 2. Either find a way to keep most things and carry them with you at the baseline or forget it and don’t look to the past as often.
Then there are complete unknowns. What would survive the journey to Destiny 3? I would put the entire Gambit game mode on the endangered species list. And while I doubt Bungie would erase PvP entirely, what happens to all the maps? By the time Destiny 3 is complete, will they finally be ready to cast this part of the game, or will everyone be deep into their other multiplayer projects, one or two of which may already have started? I have no idea.
It seems inevitable that Destiny 2 cannot live forever. But I don’t subscribe to the idea that in 2025 we’ll see a Destiny 3 wiping the slate clean in Unreal Engine 5. It’s going to be far less cut and dry, and yes, I believe we’ll see more Destiny 2 expansions through the rest of this console generation, although there’s sort of a refresher in the current game post-Final Shape.
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I’ve been writing about video games, television, and film for Forbes for over 10 years, and you may have seen my reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. I cover all types of console and PC games, but when it comes to looting or shooting I’m definitely up for it. When I look at something, it’s usually sci-fi, horror, or superheroes. I’m also a regular on IGN’s Fireteam Chat podcast and have published five sci-fi novels.
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