Will 2022’s Lightfall be the end for Destiny 2? Not according to the game director’s plans

On June 9, Bungie revealed the future of Destiny 2. The studio announced and launched the new season, Season of Arrivals. It spoke about Destiny 2: Beyond Light, the game’s major expansion coming this fall. And it did something unprecedented: it announced the expansions for the next two years as well, The Witch Queen in 2021 and Lightfall in 2022.

This new “Era of Darkness” will take players up to the end of Year 6 of Destiny 2, and Year 9 of Destiny as a franchise. So is the ominously named Lightfall (a working title) the end for the Destiny franchise? Based on our conversation with Destiny 2 game director, Luke Smith, no.

When talking to Smith about the announcement on June 9, we asked about the end of the Destiny franchise. Where do you go from the end of an “Age of Darkness?” Will the Destiny franchise survive to see a Year 10 and beyond? Smith laughed.

“We’re doing a thing no one does,” Smith smiled. “We’re laying out three expansions, three years. [...] Tune in for The Witch Queen and Lightfall, along with Beyond Light.” Smith laughed again and paused for a moment, taking a more sincere tone.

“The future of Destiny is going to be built inside of Destiny 2,” said Smith. “And we are looking beyond Beyond Light, beyond this era that we’re talking about now, as well.”

The studio’s focus is on Beyond Light and the upcoming year of Destiny 2 content. But after The Witch Queen, after Lightfall, the studio is “looking” at what’s next for Destiny 2.

With the new Destiny Content Vault — which cycles content from both Destiny 2 and the original Destiny in and out of the game — and no plans for Destiny 3, Bungie is free to keep iterating on Destiny 2 forever. After Lightfall, Bungie could take some time and rebuild the engine, it could decide the game needs a fourth class, or it could continue building a fall expansion and four seasons of content every year for all eternity, like World of Warcraft has done since 2004.

Destiny’s future is basically set in stone through 2022, but beyond that, anything could happen. But Bungie isn’t done with Destiny yet, and it doesn’t sound like it will be done with Destiny in 2023 either.

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