Gambit finally got a mention in a recent Destiny 2 State of the Game blog post, which Bungie has been quiet about ever since its overhaul in Witch Queen. While the changes they announced altering the fundamentals of Gambit last year were significant, Bungie admitted that the changes were not enough to improve player engagement.
Importantly, they acknowledge that while Gambit fans would be excited about new or even returning maps, it isn’t feasible for Bungie to dedicate resources to it right now.
“Although we know our Gambit fans mostly care about new or returning maps,” Bungie explains, “this is an area of the game with lower engagement that would take resources away from more popular parts of the game to shore up.”
The team also explains that there are no plans to “dedicate more resources to significantly transform Gambit.”
Upcoming Gambit Upgrades
But all is not lost as Bungie does have some updates in store for The Final Shape era, some of which include porting the Cathedral of Scars map from the Dreaming city alongside adding Shadow Legion and Lucent Hive enemy types to the enemy pool.
Bungie is also making Gambit completely optional as part of a bigger rework to weekly challenges and ritual playlists, meaning that if players choose to do so, players can now completely ignore Gambit. Bungie also plans to reduce the number of seasonal challenges for Gambit in Season 22 to make getting that Big Pile of Bright Dust a lot easier for Gambit averse players.
Lastly, Gambit will be getting Fireteam based matchmaking in Season 22, which would replace the Freelance node going forward. Bungie hopes this will improve matchmaking by making it faster and better. The team will continue to look at player engagement and player reception when these changes go live in Season 22.
