'One of Most Difficult Periods in Bungie's History' [Update: Delayed]

Source: Sony

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Update

Studio Bungie has officially announced that the release of the highly anticipated The Final Shape expansion has been delayed. The debut has been pushed back to June 4, 2024. As announced on the official blog, the developer of Destiny 2 needs more time to refine the DLC.

At the same time, the game's development roadmap has been modified.

1. Season of the Wish, which launches on November 28, will last until the release of The Final Shape, and in the meantime, new weekly progression quests called Wishes will come to the game, Moments of Triumph with unique rewards and a revamped Guardian Games event will also launch.
2. On the other hand, an update with new content will hit the game in April, called Into the Light, which will prepare the players for the release of The Final Shape.

Here you can read the updated FAQ, where Bungie answers a number of burning questions (including those regarding preorders of The Final Shape).

Original post (November 3)

One of the most talked-about topics in recent days has turned out to be layoffs at Bungie. The team has decided to finally comment on it. In a message to the community, it was admitted that the downsizing has indeed taken place and the studio is currently going through one of the most difficult periods in its history.

The developer - owned by Sony since January 2022 - at the same time assures that The Final Shape, the next expansion for Destiny 2, is being worked on by some 650 developers, who are doing their best to make sure the project lives up to fan expectations. Developers were expected to learn from the cold reception of Lightfall and want the next DLC to match the quality of the brand's best expansions, i.e. The Taken King, Forsaken and The Witch Queen.

However, Bungie did not confirm, but also did not deny earlier reports that the release of The Final Shape for Destiny 2 has been delayed from February to June 2024, and the online shooter Marathon will be delayed until 2025.

At the same time, there have been a number of additional reports on the situation at Bungie.

1. Financial situation of Destiny 2 allegedly leaves much to be desired. Revenues for this year are expected to be 45% lower than planned. The reason, of course, is the disastrous reception of Lightfall (on Steam it has only 31% positive reviews, and counting only those from the last 30 days, only 18% of players praise this DLC).
2. In internal testing The Final Shape gets much better reactions, but the testers still describe this DLC only as "good" and not "very good." This makes rumors of a delay in the release seem plausible, as Bungie can't afford to let this expansion disappoint, especially since it's supposed to be the culmination of a story developed since the first Destiny.
3. The layoffs were said to involve 100 people, or 8% of the studio's total staff of around 1,200.
4. There were also not so good reports regarding Marathon. It's an extraction shooter, so Bungie invited streamers specializing in Escape from Tarkov (the most popular game of this type). After the completion of several matches, the devs asked if Marathon was released tomorrow, who would play it. None of the streamers said they would be interested in it.

1. Destiny 2: Lightfall on Steam
2. Bungie - official website