Destiny 2 Expansion The Witch Queen Faces New Release Window In 2022 Says Bungie

Given the continued growth of Bungie-developed Destiny 2 since the title’s release in 2017, the game has welcomed plenty of daily opportunities and the billboard expansions that broaden the experience for its avid players. Looking ahead, Bungie did disclose that the game is to expect cross-platform play between opposing systems later this year. Currently, there is only implemented cross-play between console generations within the respected console family.

But mapping out coming content for the game, the developer already issued its plans well until 2022, in fact. Back in 2019, Bungie issued its next three phases for Destiny 2. In that, the game studio listed three expansions for the ongoing title: Beyond Light, The Witch Queen, and Lightfall. Each for the coming respected year, Destiny 2 was already met with the first expansion back in December.

However, the following add-on – The Witch Queen – is requiring more development time, says Bungie. As a result of the request, the next major expansion for Destiny 2 will not release until 2022 at the earliest as stated in the new blog post.

Last summer, we outlined our ambition for the next era in Destiny 2 by announcing the full arc, starting with Beyond Light, followed by the Witch Queen and Lightfall. As we began to scale production on the Witch Queen last year, we made the difficult but important decision to move its release to early 2022; we also realized we needed to add an additional unannounced chapter after Lightfall to fully complete our first saga of Destiny. 

We’ve long thought about moving Destiny’s annual release to the early half of the year primarily for the health of the team, but the Witch Queen and not being tied to legacy expectations allowed us to make this choice early.

Elaborating further on the significance of The Witch Queen and the reasoning behind Bungie to delay the expansion, the developer issues that the add-on ultimately sits as a catalyst for more Destiny lore well beyond the succeeding Lightfall DLC. “The Witch Queen will light the fire on a strongly interconnected narrative across Lightfall and beyond, unlike anything we’ve ever attempted before, with characters, arcs, heroes and villains that persist over multiple future releases.”

Bungie goes on to acknowledge that the safety and health of its staff is also another factor considered for the decision – not solely the comprised integrity of the storyline for the Destiny universe. COVID-19 refrains the studio from working within the same building, so there is more to take on when working from home, Bungie adds.

Regarding future endeavors for Bungie elsewhere, the developer recently disclosed that Bungie is planning to expand Destiny into other mediums alongside shift focus to its next major property scheduled to release later in 2025. You can read the full report by heading here.

Will you be patient for The Witch Queen’s delay to 2022?

Destiny 2 is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Source: Bungie