Destiny Confirmed For Next Generation Consoles

It's official: Destiny 2 is making its way to the next generation of consoles. Bungie says the game will appear on the Xbox Series X after Microsoft's Xbox showcase livestream, although the game didn't show up in the showcase itself. It sounds like the PlayStation 5 is also in the offing, since Bungie's confirmation didn't specify the game would only be on the next Xbox.

Eagle-eyed players caught Bungie's logo amid tens of others in a graphic displayed during the stream to highlight how many developers are currently making games for Microsoft's next console. In response, Bungie confirmed on Twitter that Destiny 2 is coming to "next-gen platforms," but didn't provide more information than that. More details are coming soon, Bungie said, but we don't know exactly when.

Since Bungie released cross-save support for Destiny 2 with the Shadowkeep expansion last fall, it's been possible for players to jump between consoles and PC and bring their characters with them if they own multiple copies of the game--so it's not a big leap that Destiny 2 could also support Xbox Series X in the same way. The question is whether and how the next-generation version of Destiny 2 could differ from the current one. The original Destiny launched across generations with the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360 and Xbox One, with better visuals and 60 FPS support on the more powerful consoles being the chief difference. It seems likely we'll see a prettier, faster-loading Destiny 2 on Xbox Series X over Xbox One, at least.

The confirmation that Destiny 2 is coming to Xbox Series X might also be a hint of when we might expect a "Destiny 3"--or rather, that we shouldn't expect it. In one of its recent This Week at Bungie blog posts, the developer discussed some of its plans for the upcoming fourth year of Destiny 2. And if the current game is jumping to the next generation of consoles, it stands to reason that Bungie means to continue building on the game they have, rather than release a whole new one, at least for the time being.

Then again, it's tough to be sure about that. The original Destiny is still playable despite Destiny 2 being available for three years, although Bungie long ago stopped releasing new content for the game. That we haven't heard anything about a Destiny 3 coming down the line doesn't mean it isn't happening. But it does seem that Bungie's current approach to the Destiny franchise is more akin to other MMOs, with the addition of continuous seasonal content and expansions made to the same base game, where players have invested their time and effort to earn weapons and rack up Triumphs that track their progress--to say nothing of the money they've spent on premium cosmetic items for their characters as well.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, though, expect to hear more about Bungie's next-gen plans in the future; it's just a matter of when.