Bungie will add Destiny 1 content, starting with the original Cosmodrome destination and Vault of Glass raid, to Destiny 2 as part of a new system it calls the Destiny Content Vault.
Additionally, it will continue to iterate on this system and rotate Destiny 2 content rather than releasing a sequel. In other words, Bungie is committed to Destiny 2 for years to come, and is not making Destiny 3.
The DCV was created in response to the technical issues that Bungie's discussed over the past two years. Essentially, Destiny 2 can't get much bigger, so Bungie has to remove content in order to make room for new stuff. So, beginning in Year 4, it will vault old content which is barely played. And in addition to new content, it will resurrect legacy content from the original game after updating it to Destiny 2 standards.
"We don't want to start over from scratch and build a sequel," director Luke Smith said on today's reveal stream. "In order to make a sequel, we'd have to stop supporting Destiny 2. It would effectively go dark."
"We talk about a single evolving world - a single evolving world," general manager Mark Noseworthy adds. "Not multiple evolving worlds. We don't want people to have to start over. We don't want people to have that loss of continuity with our game systems and our community."
"We don't want to put another number on a box," Smith says.
Update: Bungie clarified its plans for the DCV in a blog post, outlining the first content rotation coming in Year 4 and the roadmap for what will replace it.
Year 4 will start on September 22 with the release of Destiny 2: Beyond Light, and at that time five destinations will leave Destiny 2. Those are: Io, Mars, Mercury, Titan, and the Leviathan. All activities associated with these destinations, including raids, Strikes, campaign missions, and special missions like The Whisper will also be removed. Crucible maps won't be affected, as PvP will still use a curated list of maps.
Bungie says that "there will be new ways to earn Exotics originally tied to destinations and activity content that have entered the Destiny Content Vault." Items obtained from vaulted destinations won't be affected, either. However, with these being old destinations, their gear will be affected by the broader weapon and armor sunsetting coming in Year 4, but only in the pinnacle space.
In addition to the new Europa destination coming in Beyond Light, the gap left by this rotation will be filled by the Cosmodrome from Destiny 1. This will arrive on September 22, and it will be expanded in Season 13 - at least three months after Beyond Light releases - to "roughly Destiny 1 Year 1 parity." Later in the year, the Vault of Glass - but not Venus, the planet it's on - will be added to Destiny 2.
"Content that goes into the Destiny Content Vault may return in the future, altered (if necessary) to fit the new state of the universe," Bungie says. "Furthermore, we consider all Destiny 1 and 2 destinations and activities part of the new DCV and we’re going to be pulling from that archive – revisiting some of the most interesting places in Destiny’s history – from now onwards."
Content will enter the vault on a yearly basis, but as the Vault of Glass example shows, it will be unvaulted on a seasonal basis. Bungie says "we will always do our best to give early notice of what's being cycled into the DCV, to help you and your friends plan around how you want to complete your collections and build up your account before the new Destiny year starts.
"The vast majority of content we choose to vault will also be from destinations and activities that have been free for all players for several months prior to their departure. For example: the Curse of Osiris campaign, which has been free since Shadowkeep launched in October 2019, and part of the Destiny 2 experience since December 2017, will go in the DCV later this year."
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