Leaked promotional posters for Destiny 2 reveal a September 8, 2017 release date and have since been confirmed to be authentic. Reports now indicate that an official announcement and reveal is imminent!
Destiny developer Bungie promised something special, something different and more ambitious than any other shooter we've seen on consoles with their plans for their online-only sci-fi shooter epic. It did not live up to that promise. Not at all. But this September they have an opportunity to do right by gamers with their second chance in Destiny 2.
Reports and insiders revealed a troubled development of the Halo creators' followup, and much of what Destiny could have been was tossed out or simply couldn't be made during its production. Post-launch content was reportedly a nightmare to work on given the limitations and slow software used internally. Perhaps all of that contributed to the lack of story and the abandonment of the promise to have players evolving a character - a Guardian as they're known as within the lore - over a 10-year launch slate of games. That plan has already been tossed out, as revealed by Bungie in a blog post earlier this month.
The posters pictured above, first leaked on Imgur and Lega, reveal key artwork for Destiny 2 alongside its release date. These were sent to retailers first, hence the leak. Kotaku's Jason Schreier - who's been a longtime leader on breaking insider news and scoops on Destiny's development - confirmed the authenticity of the poster and reports that an official announcement is coming very soon. The timeline of retail leak, followed by official springtime reveal, is rather traditional for Activision, with similar leaked details forcing their marketing hand in previous years for their Call of Duty franchise.
Activision has been hinting for a while what we already know from previously leaked legal documents that Destiny 2 would be coming in 2017 (Bungie may lose stock if they don't meet the date), hence the lack of real new content to the original game over the last two years, and it was recently confirmed that character progression and gear will not carry over to the sequel. The only thing that does is the player memories of their time with the game and their character's face.
That's understandable, since the developers need fresh footing to lay new foundation for the future. This removes limitations on what new powers, gear, and weapons can be introduced and how they'll work going forward. There was no questioning quality of the gameplay mechanics, from the weapons to movement, or the integration of class-based weapons with interesting and unique poqers. Destiny 1 played well, but there simply wasn't too much to do, and with the lack of raids, the additions of microtransctions the developer previously said they wouldn't add, just helped sour the community of the game that already under-delivered. Its lower-than-ideal Metacritic score reportedly cost Bungie a bonus from publisher Activision as well.
Soon, that could all change! Here's hoping Bungie trades grind for story, and a PC version of the next Destiny!
Share your thoughts on what you want to see in Destiny 2 in the comments!