Bungie is looking into the possibility of adding something like Halo’s 8 vs. 8 Big Team Battle PvP mode to Destiny 2. However, some technical issues make implementing a 16-player mode in Bungie’s FPS MMO difficult.

Destiny 2 might get a version of Halo’s Big Team Battle

Former host and current Destiny 2 weapons designer Mercules recently joined the 64th episode of the Firing Range Podcast. During the interview, the host asked him about the possibility of bringing Big Team Battle to Bungie’s MMO.

“So, we’re investigating it,” Mercules replied. “It is an ongoing active investigation at Bungie.”

However, some “really weird” technical issues crop up when that many players load into a single activity. “We want to make sure that we can make it happen in a way that ends up being fun and stable,” the Destiny 2 dev explained. “Like, the stable part is pretty important.”

The 16-player Big Team Battle mode first appeared in Halo 3 multiplayer and has been in every Halo game since. Given the overlap between Halo and Destiny 2 fans, many players would no doubt consider it a great addition.

It might also do something to recover lost players. Going by the game’s player numbers on Steam, Destiny 2 hit its all-time peak in February 2023 in anticipation of the Lightfall expansion. However, the year-long post-Lightfall dip has seen the lowest PC player numbers since its release. While console numbers are harder to come by, they likely follow a similar trend.

Hopefully, The Final Shape expansion will reinvigorate Destiny 2 when it arrives in June. Considering the upcoming expansion will reportedly overhaul the game’s core mechanics, it might be an excellent opportunity to implement the Halo-inspired mode.

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Bungie has officially announced a Destiny 2: The Final Shape delay, revealing that the expansion planned for February won’t be arriving until later in 2024.

In a recent tweet from the official Destiny 2 Twitter account, Bungie announced that The Final Shape would be delayed from its original release of February 27, 2024, until later in the year, with a new release date set for June 4, 2024. The reason for the delay, according to Bungie, is for the development to create “an even bigger and bolder vision” for the expansion.

“The Final Shape is the culmination of the first ten years of Destiny storytelling and, for Guardians everywhere, countless hours spent together,” the development team wrote in a blog post. “We want to honor that journey, so we’re taking the time we need to deliver an even bigger and bolder vision, one that we hope will be remembered and treasured for years to come.”

The confirmation comes following reports from Bloomberg that Bungie would be delaying a litany of its work amidst its recent round of layoffs, which saw the company reduce its staff by nearly 10%.

Bungie outlines content plan through June 2024

In the meantime, Bungie will continue to work on content for the next seven months of Destiny 2. In a brief video from game director Joe Blackburn, the studio detailed what fans can expect in between now and the eventual release of The Final Shape.

Beginning next month, a new dungeon, Warlord’s Ruin, will be added into the game, and once the Season of the Wish story concludes in February, new weekly story events called “Wishes” will begin being added into the game.

Around April, according to Blackburn, Bungie will begin detailing what to expect from The Final Shape, and a new update called Destiny 2: Into the Light will also release, with content set to release over April and May that Blackburn says will include unique rewards for both hardcore and returning fans.

Finally, in May, Bungie will release a new map pack containing three maps into the game. The following month will then see The Final Shape release.

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Bungie has written a new blog post addressing player feedback and outlining its path forward for Destiny 2 following what has been a turbulent few months at the storied studio. The post comes just days after massive layoffs at Bungie left numerous employees from across the company scrambling to find new work.

Bungie says it’s lost the trust of Destiny 2 players

In a new blog post on Bungie’s website, the Destiny 2 development team has shared its sadness at the departure of so many colleagues, though the recent layoffs aren’t directly mentioned, and outlined a new vision for the game moving forward. Acknowledging the concerns many players have expressed about Destiny 2’s seasonal content and the game’s Lightfall expansion, the development team states, “We know we have lost a lot of your trust.” The post goes on to claim that Bungie hasn’t done enough in recent times to “surprise and delight” fans of the game, with the Destiny 2 team promising to rectify that before the release of The Final Shape in June 2024.

Vowing to make The Final Shape into one of the studio’s best games to date, the post notes that there are currently over 650 people working on the recently delayed expansion. Though the post presents a positive picture of the future of Destiny 2, little was revealed about how exactly Bungie plans to revitalize the underperforming looter shooter. More details about the studio’s “bigger, bolder, and brighter vision for The Final Shape” will reportedly be revealed following the launch of the next Season in November. Destiny 2 is losing players, according to current and former employees, and the recent round of layoffs could potentially spell trouble for The Final Shape despite the developers’ optimism.

Between mass layoffs at the company and a lukewarm reaction by players to recent content added to Destiny 2, 2023 has proven to be a tough year for Bungie. Like its acknowledgment from earlier this year that Destiny 2’s approach to PvP maps isn’t working, this new blog post shows that Bungie is aware of its shortcomings and is working to fix them. Whether the studio can make the needed changes and get back on track before the reported release of Bungie’s new IP in 2025, though, is still unclear.

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Bungie‘s upcoming titles Destiny 2: The Final Shape and Marathon have been delayed amidst the developer’s layoffs.

Anonymous insiders at Bungie informed Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that both games had recently suffered delays. The Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape, initially had a release window set for February 2024. The developer pushed it back until June. Bungie’s next game in the pipeline, Marathon, will now release sometime in 2025.

The Final Shape is the next major expansion for Destiny 2. According to Bungie’s reveals in August, The Final Shape concludes Destiny 2’s decade-long Light and Dark saga. Additionally, the expansion adds a new destination, The Pale Heart, located in the Traveler. The Pale Heart will contain references to previous Destiny 2 locations. The Final Shape also features new Super Abilities and Aspects.

Bungie’s other title, Marathon, remains a largely mysterious entity. The extraction shooter reportedly employs a timed oxygen system that players regulate. According to the same report, the system uses replaceable oxygen canisters players must purchase or find around the locations in Tau Ceti, Marathon’s setting. The report also claimed that the developer planned to make Marathon the “ultimate live service.”

Bungie Hit With Layoffs

The news comes as employees confirm multiple layoffs at Bungie. It remains unclear how many and from what departments the firings occurred. According to Schreier’s reporting, an email to staff members from Bungie Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons announced a meeting with remaining employees to “discuss today’s events.” Neither Bungie nor Sony or PlayStation released a statement about the situation at the time of writing.

Bungie joins a long list of companies in the game industry to suffer layoffs in 2023. Other PlayStation studios also confirmed firings in October. PlayStation studios Visual Arts Group and Media Molecule reported multiple layoffs just in the last week. In September, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog confirmed it had let go of several contractors.

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