Bungie won't expand Destiny 2's Cosmodrome to its former glory after all
Moscow unfinished.
Bungie has said it won't flesh out Destiny 2's Cosmodrome location to its original size from Destiny 1 after all.
Previously, the Destiny maker had said the franchise's original area - which returned in Destiny 2: Beyond Light last autumn at about a half of its base size - would grow over time.
There was no suggestion it would ever get its Destiny 1 Year 3 Rise of Iron expansion set in the connecting Plaguelands zone, but Bungie did say it would build out Destiny 2's stripped back Cosmodrome area until it was at "roughly Destiny 1 Year parity".
Now, Bungie has admitted this won't happen and set the record straight.
"We failed to properly update your expectations for how far the Cosmodrome experience was going to be extended and that was a mistake," community manager dmg04 wrote in studio's latest This Week At Bungie briefing, as spotted by Kotaku).
"So, to clear things up: With the Devil's Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. strikes returning, we don't have any active plans to add more to the Cosmodrome than what is there [and] will be focusing on new updates overall."
This has all come to light now with the return of the aforementioned Destiny 1 strikes as part of the latest new Destiny 2 season. These are Cosmodrome missions set in some areas you can't access from the Cosmodrome map right now, and fans have suggested their arrival should have heralded these areas opening up on the main Cosmodrome map too.
"As we approached Beyond Light's launch, it became clear to us that we had a choice to make," Bungie continued. "After returning all three of its original strikes, do we invest more time and resources in bringing Cosmodrome to D1 parity or do we switch our focus to building new experiences for Year 4 and beyond? Given that we believed we had achieved our original goals and knowing the community and team's desire for new content, we chose the latter option."
Destiny 2: Beyond Light brought a big new area to the game - the icy moon of Europa - but also controversially removed much of the base Destiny 2 game content. The return of other, older areas from Destiny 1 as part of a rotating Destiny Content Vault was announced at the same time, as part of a longer-term effort to cycle areas and content into and out of the game.
"The Cosmodrome offers an improved tutorial for new players, and for seasoned ones, a warm dose of nostalgia," Matt Reynolds reported last month in his appraisal of Destiny's next-gen update. "Bungie hasn't leant on it as much as you'd expect - but I imagine that'll change in time." Perhaps not, after all.