Destiny 2’s Edge of Fate Showing a Concerning Trend for Bungie’s Looter Shooter

Following the launch of its latest major expansion, Destiny 2 continues to observe a declining player count across the PC player demographic, with the game seeing a significantly lower player count this month compared to when its previous Final Shape expansion launched in June last year. The Destiny series has gone through countless ups and downs throughout its decade-long life so far, though it seems like no small number of Guardians wrapped up their journeys for good in Destiny 2 after The Final Shape finally brought the story's Light and Darkness Saga to a close.

Bungie appears to be far from finished with the game, though, and the studio seemingly has big plans ahead as Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate kicks off a new age for the game labeled the Fate Saga. This new expansion is the first of two planned to release this year, with a second, distinctly Star-Wars-themed expansion set to unfold in the sci-fi MMORPG on December 2. Bungie is mixing up much more than its typical release schedule this year, though, with many of Destiny 2's fundamental mechanics getting reworked with the Edge of Fate expansion, from the activity director itself all the way to armor and character stats.

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The Edge of Fate focuses on a new story surrounding the Nine in a new destination called Kepler, though far fewer Guardians are around to enjoy the expansion this year, according to statistics provided by Steam Charts. Launch day of Destiny 2's latest expansion saw a peak player count of 99,131 on the PC platform Steam, less than a third of the peak Steam player count the game witnessed on the day of The Final Shape's release last year. This is by far the worst that any of Destiny 2's expansions have performed on launch in recent memory, although some fans might have predicted such numbers ahead of time. The game has seen a constantly declining active player count over the last year, reaching an all-time low on Steam at the start of the year.

Destiny 2's Dwindling Player Count Speaks To More Than Its Newest Expansion

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It should be kept in mind that these numbers are purely representative of the Destiny 2 playerbase on Steam, although it's not unreasonable to think they may also reflect the game's dwindling popularity across other platforms as well. Morale surrounding the game was significantly higher around this time last year, with The Final Shape not only promising a big finish to Destiny 2's 10-year journey, but delivering on it so well that players were, for a time, left with high hopes for the game's future.

Ultimately, Destiny 2's gradual decline in player count is due to much more than just the fatigue of a decade-old world. Players are often left feeling dissatisfied and unrewarded for the time they put into the game, while large numbers of newbies are quickly put off by confusing UI and an infamously poor new player experience. Fans will have to wait and see how Destiny 2 performs throughout the rest of the year, but it's very possible that the game will need to adapt to a lower average player count going forward.