After Destiny 2 fans panic about new dungeon leaving, Bungie clarifies it will return

On June 9, Bungie launched a surprise dungeon as part of Destiny 2’s Season of Arrivals. The Prophecy dungeon — a three-player raid-like activity taking place in the mysterious realm of the Nine — was an instant hit.

But upon closer inspection of the dungeon’s trailer, players learned that Prophecy would only be available until Sept. 21, the end of Season of Arrivals. Bungie has since clarified that this isn’t the case and has removed the text from the trailer, but the dungeon may still disappear for a time.

The drama started when the Destiny subreddit noticed Prophecy’s expatriation date and begged Bungie not to remove the Prophecy dungeon at the end of the season. The post currently stands at nearly 13,000 upvotes. Many players even assumed the dungeon wouldn’t be going away at all, and that this was just a big misunderstanding.

Cozmo, one of the Destiny 2 community managers, commented in the thread late Thursday night, suggesting that the dungeon may leave, but only temporarily. “We’re making some under-the-hood changes to how activities function when Season 12 launches [in the fall] (which we hope results in no noticeable changes in the activities themselves),” he said. “Unfortunately, that change means our newest pinnacle activity — Prophecy — may have to take a season off before it returns. We’re working to bring it back as quickly as we can.”

It’s not entirely clear if the dungeon will disappear when Bungie launches Destiny 2: Beyond Light this fall, said Cozmo. But, if the dungeon does indeed go away, Bungie will bring it back within a season (which typically runs for three months).

Image: Bungie via Polygon

The idea of a dungeon in Destiny 2 is relatively new. The Shattered Throne was the first of its kind, and it launched in the fall of 2018 with Destiny 2: Forsaken. Pit of Heresy hit shortly after Shadowkeep last year. Prophecy is only the game’s third dungeon, and its first with unique loot — even if most of it comes from other areas of the game.

The issue with Prophecy may have to do with the new Destiny Content Vault that Bungie announced on June 9. Starting this fall, the studio will remove some underused locations in Destiny 2 — Io, Mars, Mercury, Titan, and The Leviathan will all leave in September. But as it cycles some content out, Bungie will revive other beloved activities. In Beyond Light, players will return to the Cosmodrome destination from the original Destiny, and the series’ first raid — the Vault of Glass — will return sometime in Year 4.

With the recent announcement of the Destiny Content Vault in place, players assumed that Bungie wanted to remove Prophecy due to memory concerns — which are part of why the studio will take such a big chunk out of the game this fall — and they even asked Bungie to take one of the other, older dungeons instead.

But Cozmo’s response makes the problem sound more technical. Indeed, a representative from Bungie told Polygon that there are technical issues under the hood that the studio is trying to work out to keep Prophecy in the game, but either way, bringing it back was always the plan.

It’s unclear when Prophecy will return to Destiny 2 once it leaves on Sept. 21. But Cozmo suggests it will only take a season off, meaning players should be able to explore the realm of the Nine again by season 13 this winter.

Bungie will launch Destiny 2: Beyond Light on Sept. 22 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. The next-gen version of Destiny 2 — running at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second — will come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at a later date.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.