In Destiny 2, the most important release of the franchise since 2017 is coming with “Beyond Light”. The expansion will determine whether Destiny can continue in its current form. The new savior has already been decided. Bungie has brought him back from exile and promoted him.
That’s why the release of “Beyond Light” is so important: The new expansion “Beyond Light” will be released on November 10, 2020: It marks a turning point in Destiny’s 6-year history.
Essentially, the last 2 years of Destiny 2, since Forsaken, have been leading up to this addon. The 2019 expansion “Shadowkeep” seemed to be born out of necessity: It was the first major release that Bungie had to manage without its partner Activision. Accordingly, Shadowkeep turned out to be fairly small in hindsight.
The next 2 years of Destiny 2 will build on Beyond Light. This will be the first part of a trilogy with an interconnected story. It’s crucial that Beyond Light now initiates a wave on which Bungie can sail for the next years until 2022.
Furthermore, “Beyond Light” also marks the start of a new console generation. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, there will be a lack of major launch titles at release. Cyberpunk 2077 has also been postponed: By coincidence or clever planning, Bungie is in a position with Destiny where they have another significant opportunity to attract new players – thanks to a lack of alternatives.
Only November Matters
How important the release of “Beyond Light” is can be heard from how Destiny manager, Mark Noseworthy, reacted to criticism of the controversial “Vaulting”: Older content is disappearing from Destiny into a vault.
In a conversation with Edge, he said in October (via gamesradar):
“In a way, it doesn’t matter what people think about it right now. What really matters: How does the game feel in November? How does the content ecosystem feel and how do the experiences feel? Is there enough for people to do? Do they feel connected to the game and want to play Destiny 2 with their friends?”
Mark Noseworthy
That’s exactly the question that Beyond Light needs to answer.
“The Best Days of Destiny Are Yet to Come”
Who is the new savior? As the past of Destiny has predominantly been shaped by Luke Smith – Noseworthy’s longtime partner.
The former journalist and WoW junkie Luke Smith once shocked himself with a taser for an article. Since then, he has come a long way:
- He started at Bungie as a writer for the website
- served as raid designer (Glass Vault) for Destiny from 2012 to 2014
- became the head and main creative of the major expansion “The Taken King” from 2014 to 2015
- took over the development of Destiny 2 in 2016 after it received a reboot
- until he became the franchise director.
In the video documentation for Beyond Light, he seemed to pass the baton to Joe Blackburn. Imagery and editing suggested that Joe Blackburn would be the new big star in the Destiny universe.
While the “old hands” from 2014 were allowed to speak at the beginning of the video – marketing chief Osborne, Noseworthy, and Luke Smith – Blackburn was given the space and the last words at the end of the ViDoc.
Smith referred to him as one of the “new young leaders” of Bungie, who it is enjoyable to watch as they take on more and more responsibility:
- Blackburn came from the MMORPG ESO
- was also the raid chief of Destiny
- but left the company in April 2019 to take on new challenges. He switched to Riot Games (Valorant, LoL)
- Bungie has now brought him back and promoted him to “Assistant Director.”
Apparently, Blackburn is supposed to play a crucial role in how Destiny 2 will continue from 2020 onwards. The video documentation ends with Blackburn stating, “The best days of Destiny are yet to come.”
On November 10, we will find out whether he is right.
In October, we looked at the expansion “Beyond Light” and explained why it is so crucial for Bungie. The pressure on the release is huge. Now the future should finally begin, which Bungie has promised us since 2014:
Destiny 2 has promised us the future for 6 years – now it must arrive, otherwise it’s over
