Destiny 3 discussion swirls, following accurate expansion leak
Time to explain?
After a decade of story, the Destiny franchise heads into uncharted waters after the launch of this year's The Final Shape expansion. But both Bungie and a prominent leaker have teased what will come next - and when we will hear about it.
The internet has been quick to notice a curious Destiny 2 leak posted to reddit in February which discussed an upcoming character subclass, Prismatic, that lets you combine Light and Dark powers. This week, that subclass was officially announced by Bungie in a livestream detailing The Final Shape - which has prompted fans to look at what else the leaker has said.
"Destiny 3 is (was? idk) in development under code name Payback," the leaker said of Bungie's plans for a full Destiny 2 sequel, caveating that what they knew had come from former Bungie employees, and that plans were subject to change.
"One of the big changes for Destiny 3 is (was, again idk) for classes to no longer exist and allow any character to spec into any ability," the leaker continued. "Since lore-wise there is no reason you couldn't (Hunters explicitly learned Blink from Warlocks and Blink isn't tied to a single element, hence the logic there)."
Bungie itself has repeatedly said that the Destiny franchise will continue on past the end of The Final Shape, even though the expansion marks the end of the series' "Light and Darkness Saga" - an umbrella term for its first 10 years.
This week, Destiny boss Luke Smith said Bungie would follow up with details on what was next for the franchise "soon", after The Final Shape's launch on 4th June.
"Facing [the franchise's climactic Big Bad] The Witness is not the end of Destiny 2, and it's definitely not the end of Destiny," Smith said. "After you face The Witness, we're going to tell you what's coming next to Destiny 2 - and beyond. We'll see you soon."
As for Destiny 3, the leaker has continued today by affirming the game was planned as a fully-fledged new game in the franchise rather than an expansion to Destiny 2, or a revamp of the existing game. As for its codename "Payback", the leaker noted that this title was not a reference to "any story events".
"Codename Payback does not mean we lose in The Final Shape," they wrote. "Rather, Codename Payback refers to Bungie getting payback against themselves by creating something they hope everyone will love."
The past year has been a tough time for Bungie, with layoffs and reports of decreasing revenues prompting The Final Shape's delay from February to June to give it a further polish, and pressure from Sony to turn things around. Bungie's Marathon reimagining has also reportedly been delayed, and is now set to arrive in 2025.