Bungie delays Destiny 2's free-to-play debut and Shadowkeep expansion to October
"We didn't make this decision lightly".
Bungie is delaying the release of Destiny 2: New Light and the game's standalone Shadowkeep expansion from their originally announced date of 17th September to 1st October.
Both games mark the first significant step for Bungie's troubled franchise following the developer's split from long-time publisher Activision in January. New Light will see the core Destiny 2 experience (including Year 1's Curse of Osiris and Warmind expansions) become entirely free-to-play, while the moon-themed Shadowkeep is a completely standalone affair.
Announcing the release delay for both titles in a new post on the Destiny subreddit, Bungie's Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy explained that, "As we get closer and closer to serving up Shadowkeep and New Light, it has become increasingly clear to us that our releases for this Fall would benefit from a bit more time in the oven."
"We didn't make this decision lightly," the message continued, "We know for some of you (us too), Destiny releases are events where you take time off of work or develop a sudden sickness that keeps you from school or work...We're sorry for screwing up your plans and we wanted to share this information as quickly as we could."
As part of the delay, Bungie has also made a few changes to Destiny 2's upcoming content schedule. The World First for Shadowkeep's new Garden of Salvation raid (set in the original Destiny's Black Garden) will, for instance, now begin on Saturday, 5th October.
Elsewhere, Moments of Triumph will now run through 17th September, and an additional Iron Banner will be implemented that same week. Bungie also notes that Cross Save will come online "later this summer", "well ahead" of Shadowkeep's October launch on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.