The community has Destiny 2 buried. Thousands attended, and that’s a shame, says MeinMMO’s shooter expert Dariusz.
“Monument of Triumph” proves how passionate the Destiny community is. Within half an hour, the impressive player surge broke the record values of the recent expansions “Edge of Fate” and “Renegades,” crashed the servers and made the loot shooter a global bestseller on Steam.
Nevertheless, the final update of the MMO also shows that this passionate community, which can obviously gather on the servers, missed the moment to save Destiny.
Today, we take another look at the tragic end of Destiny 2 and examine the role the community played.
A retrospective on a misery
In May, we looked at the reasons for the death of Destiny 2 on MeinMMO again – after all, many gamers were concerned about how the game could actually die when it was once such a popular and successful shooter.
The misery can be summarized in a simple sentence:
Bungie alienated the Destiny 2 community because the devs made too many mistakes on various fronts.
Here’s a brief overview of what you could read in the analysis from May:
- Content vault & sunsetting
- Aggressive monetization with thinning content
- The “Post-The-Final-Shape” vacuum including disorientation
- The grind suddenly stopped being fun
- Loss of trust in Bungie’s leadership
- Lack of communication from developers with fans and ignorance of feedback
The consequences were evident. More and more players left Destiny and in some cases never returned. The partly negative mood that already existed before the finale of the saga of light and darkness did not end with “The Final Shape.” On the contrary: The players received the narrative closure they wished for and could easily turn away from the game.
Nearly two years passed before player numbers on Steam reached a new record low of just under 10,500 players in February 2026 (via SteamCharts). The negative trend of the previous months, which the Renegades expansion in Star Wars design could not stop, worsened.
Then, the release of the new expansion “Shadow and Order,” originally planned for March, was postponed to June, while Bungie’s new extraction shooter “Marathon” celebrated its release with meager player numbers and rose to become the nemesis of the Destiny community.
At the same time, player numbers for the loot shooter continued to decline. In March and April 2026, there were an average of less than 8,000 players online on Steam. The release of the Renegades expansion was now about 4 months ago, and social media saw a mix of schadenfreude and apocalyptic mood.
“They got what they deserved” vs. “I’m afraid this could really be the end.”
And as we know today: It was the end.
On May 21, the announcement followed, and on June 9, the final update of Destiny 2 went live – Monument of Triumph instead of Shadow and Order.
The sad truth and the admission
Destiny 2 is dead, and of course, fundamental mistakes by Bungie such as the content vault, mismanagement, and disappointing expansions led to the decline in player numbers. But it is a constant process. Months, no, years have seen ongoing criticism of the game and Bungie.
What was not present at that time: A movement from the community to show the developers that it was worth holding onto Destiny. A positive trend in player numbers. A moment of community. There was a lack of foresight to say: Folks, we need to act now and fight for our game before it’s too late.
Destiny didn’t die yesterday. Destiny was buried yesterday.
Hundreds of thousands of players poured onto the servers of Destiny 2 for Monument of Triumph, saying goodbye. Some shed tears, while others celebrated that they successfully made a statement and pulverized the player numbers of previous expansions.
The sad truth, however, is: The player rush for the burial of Destiny 2 comes too late.
Considering that in February Shadow and Order was postponed and insider reports indicated that it was known internally for months that Destiny 2 would be ending, the player numbers in the previous months should have been better. But perhaps more importantly: The sales figures of Edge of Fate and Renegades should have been better.
Destiny 2 has obviously not been financially viable for Bungie and Sony anymore. While it is a nice success for the community to say goodbye to the shooter appropriately, it probably changes nothing about the fate of the game.
A monument of shame
The rush of players and the associated success of Destiny is a shame – in two ways.
On one hand, it shows that Destiny has an incredibly passionate community that Bungie and Sony simply toss aside and instead try to build a new community around a niche game (Marathon) that has never matched the success of the loot shooter and – based on current numbers – never will.
On the other hand, it also shows that the community could have achieved significantly more with the right amount of conviction if they had only tried in time. Now, when it’s too late, they flood the servers.
And the worst part about it: You can’t blame the players.
MeinMMO’s editor-in-chief Lydia found a strong metaphor that I would like to share with you:
On June 9, players mourned the Destiny they once loved. The Destiny that has now died was different. No one could have asked them to fight for this game before its death. After all, it was no longer their old friend of past days.
It is completely understandable that people turn away from something that has repeatedly disappointed them and in which they no longer believe – especially when it is a paid product. No one can seriously expect that a Destiny fan would buy “Edge of Fate” just to save Destiny 2, even if that fan is angry at Bungie and has no interest in the contents of the DLC.
At the same time, one should not be surprised that a company is shutting down a product that does not generate enough revenue and has become a loss-making venture.
Bungie: EYES OPEN
According to recent information, Destiny 3 is currently not in development and Destiny 2 is dead. This is a shame for gaming, but as sad as it sounds: In 2026, none of us could probably have changed anything.
We must hope that Bungie and Sony – I am specifically addressing the executives in their fancy, tailored suits – look with open eyes at the burial of Destiny 2 and recognize that it would be reckless to let a brand with such a passionate community simply die.
Many franchises would be glad if their community would rise up because a game, a series, or a book series is dying. Bungie and Sony need to recognize this and find a way to monetize the brand “Destiny” successfully.
I join thousands of gamers and MeinMOOs Destiny experts Christos in pushing the player numbers of Destiny in the coming days – and I will enjoy it. Because Christos had a really good argument for why it is fun to play Destiny now: There is no pressure anymore. You can read the whole article here: After over 8 years with Destiny 2, I have to say goodbye to the loot shooter, but instead of mourning, I celebrate
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