Following layoffs, Destiny 2 dev addresses Lightfall woes and Final Shape plans: "We know we have lost a lot of your trust"

Destiny 2 studio Bungie has addressed a few pressing concerns around Lightfall and the upcoming Destiny 2 The Final Shape expansion following layoffs at the company.

In a blog titled 'Our Path Forward', the Destiny developer first acknowledges the laying off of roughly 100 staffers - roughly 8% of the studio's workforce - that was announced Tuesday.

"This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our studio’s history, as we’ve parted ways with people we respect and admire," reads a message from the Destiny 2 dev team. "We’ve spent this week supporting one another, including those who are at the studio, as well as friends and colleagues who no longer are."

The developer also addresses in frank terms the largely negative response to the Lightfall expansion. Our Destiny 2 Lightfall review gave it a 3/5 and called it a "deeply uneven experience that makes a terrible first impression" despite "an excellent new subclass and raid."

"We want to acknowledge the feedback and concerns you have about Lightfall and recent Seasons, as well as your responses to the reveal of The Final Shape," Bungie says. "We know we have lost a lot of your trust. Destiny needs to surprise and delight. We haven’t done this enough and that's going to change."

Destiny 2's next DLC, The Final Shape, was revealed in August with a storyline heavily focused on The Traveler. The expansion has reportedly been delayed internally from February to June 2024 in the wake of the layoffs. Marathon, the studio's next game, has also seemingly slipped from 2024 to 2025. Today's statement notably includes no mention of any such delays. Instead, Bungie only stresses the importance of delivering a better expansion in The Final Shape.

"To us the path forward is clear: We need to make The Final Shape an unforgettable Destiny experience. We want to build something that will be regarded alongside the best games we’ve ever made – a fitting culmination that honors the journey we’ve been on together for the past ten years. Forsaken, The Witch Queen, and The Taken King – these are the standard bearers we aim to live up to.

"We are intensely focused on exceeding your expectations for The Final Shape. Destiny 2 has more than 650 dedicated teammates pouring all their energy and expertise into delivering this epic moment and its subsequent Episodes."

Bungie says we'll learn more about its short-term plans, including what's in store for the next season launching in late November, "in the weeks ahead." After that, the studio says we'll get an update on its "bigger, bolder, brighter vision for The Final Shape, as well as the bridge we plan to build to take us all out of this Darkness and into the Light."

Destiny 2's director recently announced a change for The Final Shape that players have wanted for 9 years: shader icons that actually make sense.