Bungie laid off some of its staff, and although the scope of it is still unclear, several developers have shared the news on social media. Sony acquired Bungie a little over a year ago, and studios under PlayStation have had a rough year with layoffs. Relating to that news, Bloomberg reported that the upcoming Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion will launch in June 2024 instead of February, "pushing it out of Sony Group Corp.'s current fiscal year."
If Destiny 2 weren't a live service game, it wouldn't seem so strange for a launch date to get delayed by a few months. However, this leaves a gap between Season 23 — which would end around February 27 — and the expansion's new launch date, bearing the question: what's Bungie planning to do for those four months?
During The Final Shape showcase, the developer told players that it would switch to an "episodes" model, leaving behind seasons. On Bungie's website, it says that the first episode, Echoes, will begin in March and end in June of next year. So, either Bungie will roll out the episode, expand next season, or have something else planned for players.
Bungie delayed the Beyond Light expansion by a few weeks at the height of COVID-19, but COVID still pushed The Witch Queen's release to 2022. That left all of 2021 without a major expansion, but seasons filled that role, especially Season of the Lost, which lasted almost six months. Additionally, the developer did launch the Bungie 30th anniversary pack as a paid DLC in December of that year.
Season 23 is around the corner, but we don't yet know what the schedule looks like. So far, Bungie has only detailed its mid-season update for weapons and quality-of-life improvements in Destiny 2. The current Season of the Witch will end on November 28.
