Skip to main content

Destiny 2 to move to Steam, shift to free-to-play model starting with Shadowkeep

Destiny 2 will be moving to Steam from Activision’s Battle.net starting with its next major expansion, Shadowkeep, while also shifting to a free-to-play model for the shooter’s base game.

Shadowkeep, which will take players to the moon once it launches on September 17, is the first Destiny 2 expansion since Bungie ended its partnership with publisher Activision in January. The game is among the launch titles of Google Stadia, with cross-save functionality between the cloud gaming platform, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Recommended Videos

Destiny 2 will be jumping to Steam as soon as Shadowkeep is rolled out, with current PC players to be able to easily transfer all their progress from the current Battle.net client at no cost. Bungie said that it will provide more details regarding the transition later this summer.

Another major change coming to Destiny 2 is that its base game will be rebranded as Destiny 2: New Light, as it goes free-to-play alongside the Shadowkeep release. The free version will include all year one missions and content, such as the co-op dungeons and player-vs-player Crucible modes, to provide newcomers to the game with a new entry point.

Shadowkeep will be a standalone expansion, which means that Destiny 2 players will only need the base game if they want to purchase it. They will not need to have bought the previous expansions, namely Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken, to enjoy Shadowkeep. Moving forward, Bungie will allow players to choose the updates that they want to buy, instead of requiring them to commit to an annual pass.

Shadowkeep will be sold for $35, with every purchase to include the first season of new content following the release of the expansion. Bungie has currently bundled all previously released Destiny 2 content, which includes the base game, all expansions, and the annual pass, at a reduced price of $40, so players who would like to jump in will be able to do so at a low cost.

The announcements on the future of Destiny 2 comes just as E3 2019 kicks off. Gamers are looking forward to a bevy of new reveals, including Gears 5, Halo Infinite, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Doom Eternal, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs Legion, and many more.

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
Valve won’t release a Steam Deck 2 until there’s a proper ‘generational leap’
Steam Deck over a pink background.

Don't expect a Steam Deck 2 any time soon -- or at least, not within the year. While Valve has confirmed that it's working on an official follow-up to its popular handheld console, it's against the idea of annual hardware releases.

In an interview with Reviews.org (spotted by The Verge), Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Yazan Aldehayyat weighed in on the product's future. While they said they approve of competition in the space and how they can (and in some cases have) improve on the Steam Deck foundation, they're not going to follow the trend of releasing new versions with incremental improvements.

Read more
Destiny: Rising turns Bungie’s MMO into a free-to-play mobile game
Guardians fighting big purple spheres in Destiny: Rising.

Destiny: Rising | Official Announcement Trailer

Eyes up, Guardians -- a new entry in the Destiny universe has just been announced. Destiny: Rising is a new mobile spinoff for IOS and Android developed by NetEase Games set in an alternate timeline and is scheduled to enter its first closed alpha test this November.

Read more
Destiny 2 moving to two smaller expansions per year instead of one big one
A ship that's crashed on a planet. It's in pieces and there are a copule white structures in the background.

Bungie announced big changes to Destiny 2 with the hope thatthey'll help bring in new players and free up developers following massive layoffs in July.

In a post published Monday, the development team laid out the Codename: Frontiers road map, which will bring the live-service shooter through the end of 2025. Each Destiny 2 year will have a new makeup going forward; instead of one major expansion per year and and three episodes, the game will now have two medium-sized expansions and four "major updates."

Read more