Destiny 2 game director sets expectations for future expansions
BungieDuring an interview prior to the release of Bungie’s latest Destiny 2 expansion, Beyond Light, game director Luke Smith confirmed the scope of future expansions will not match that of Forsaken.
In the lead-up to the highly-anticipated Destiny 2 expansion Beyond Light, Bungie’s Luke Smith sat down with the official Twitch Gaming channel to answer questions on the game’s newest release.
During the interview, Smith covered topics such as the expansion’s new destination – Europa, incorporating characters from Destiny 1 into the expansion’s narrative, and information on the new raid. As the interview progressed (comments start at 1:29:55), Smith was asked how large Beyond Light will be in comparison to previous Destiny 2 expansions.
The game director confirmed that while larger than last year’s Shadowkeep, the newest Destiny 2 expansion is smaller than the critically-acclaimed Forsaken, released in 2018. In addition to discussing the scope of Beyond Light, Smith also spoke about the scale of future expansions and tempered the community’s expectations moving forward.
BungieSetting expectations for future Destiny 2 expansions
Smith responded to the question of Beyond Light’s scale by citing Destiny 2’s most beloved expansion: Forsaken. The game director confirmed that Forsaken had set the bar for future Bungie expansions, stating, “So, size-wise I think the common comparison people wanna make is to something like Forsaken”.
The game director revisited the size of the two separate destinations in Forsaken: the Tangled Shore and Dreaming City. Smith also took into account the help their team received from then-partner Activision, whose support studios assisted Bungie with creating the expansion’s content.
He estimated that with the additional resources available to Bungie at the time, the size of the Forsaken team was double that of Beyond Light: “I’m just gonna be really, really candid here, it’s not as big as Forsaken.”
The game director went on to clarify that he thinks “it’s strictly larger than Shadowkeep last year”, confirming that the new expansion will contain more content than Destiny 2’s previous fall release.
BungieStill, plenty of content for fans to enjoy in Beyond Light
Despite his comments on Beyond Light’s size compared to Forsaken, Smith identified several elements of the new expansion that will provide players with substantial content to enjoy.
“Europa is brand new, we built brand-new subclasses with Stasis, we’ve got a bunch of cool toys for players to find and play with,” he confirmed, indicating that while the size of the expansion may not match Forsaken, Beyond Light will contain a wide array of content to keep players engaged and invested.
He also tempered the community’s expectations for future Destiny 2 releases by confirming that “it’s unlikely that the Bungie team will deliver something on the scope of Forsaken again.” He specified that timelines, budget, and staffing were all considerations the studio must take into account when developing new content, including Beyond Light.
While Destiny 2 fans may be disappointed to hear that future expansions will not be on the same scale as Forsaken, Bungie seems to believe players will have their hands full with new subclass experimentation, story beats to explore, and exciting gear to chase with Beyond Light. The newest Destiny 2 expansion is scheduled for release on November 10, 2020.
