Destiny 2's latest expansion failed to meet player expectations, director admits

Destiny 2’s director, Tyson Green, has admitted that Bungie’s plans beyond the release of The Final Shape last year have failed to meet the expectations of players, resulting in a massive decline in the game’s player count.

The details:

• Following the conclusion of Destiny’s original decade-long saga with The Final Shape launch last year, the franchise entered a new era with the release of The Edge of Fate expansion in July. The new “Fate Saga” is set to continue next month with the Star Wars-inspired Renegades expansion, but the hype around the content has been minimal, with players noting a huge decline in Destiny 2’s player count and Sony’s recent mention of its commercial underperformance.
• Speaking with IGN, Green discussed what went wrong for Destiny 2, highlighting that players were left unimpressed by The Edge of Fate and the content it had to offer. “The Final Shape brought things to a crescendo, where it’s like a fantastic ending that tied off a lot of the threads,” he said. “People were pleased and satisfied with what they played, and then the big [downwards] spike in population [came after]. That happened because we ended the saga. So you get what you pay for, right? ”
• The director explained that the expansion focused too heavily on grinding for levels rather than providing fulfilling rewards in the form of in-game items. He added that the studio is now taking into account feedback from players, who have stated that they don’t want to grind the game to “chase a simple number that goes up.”