A statement from Bungie’s official site lets players know that the next Destiny 2 expansion, called Beyond Light, will be pushed two months past its intended launch date, to November 10, due to limitations caused by working from home. This means that the game’s Season of Arrivals will continue until that new release date, giving players more time to spend with the content before it goes away.
Beyond Light is the most important expansion for the game yet. It is meant to kick off a new era for the game, not only in terms of story, but also for Bungie, as it will be the first expansion released for Destiny 2 without the involvement of Activision. The new story line plans to answer threads and questions introduced by the vanilla version of the game nearly three years ago, potentially making it one of the most lore-focused releases in the series’s history.
While many games have continued to hit their release dates despite the current state of the world, this news comes on the heels of a report from the Game Developers Conference, which put out a survey to 2,500 developers to gain insights into how coronavirus has effected their workload. One in three developers stated that their games had been delayed due to the pandemic, while 70% said they had transitioned to working from home. Nearly equal thirds claimed that their business had declined, remained the same, or had actually increased in the time since coronavirus restrictions began. The survey also shows that over half of all participants believed their productivity to have dropped, while their work hours increased. According to the survey, the biggest issues brought on by the pandemic have been isolation, lack of communication, and limited or no access to critical tools that are inaccessible remotely.
While some countries like New Zealand have successfully quashed coronavirus, many governments, including the United States, have struggled to do so, resulting in a prolonging of the pandemic. As this crisis continues, expect the changes it has on the gaming industry to develop and evolve. This will likely not be the end of delays for titles scheduled for release in the next few months, and potentially years.
