Destiny 2 players are starting to play or returning to The Division 2 en masse. With Destiny 2‘s final update, the game received plenty of new content and items to grind for, but it was still the death of the game at its core. Bungie announced that Destiny 2 would no longer get updates and new patches after the Monument of Triumph release on June 9 in late May, essentially confirming the death of the beloved looter-shooter. The Shattered Cycle expansion that was supposed to be released this year was also canceled as part of this.
As great as the game can feel to play now in Monument of Triumph, and as active as the community still is, with around 40,000 players daily on Steam alone, Destiny 2 no longer getting new content will inevitably make it feel stale. Those who have completed most of what the game has to offer or are looking for an actively supported title are now trying out other games, and that includes content creators who previously covered Destiny 2. Now, The Division 2 offers one of the best alternatives to Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 Gamers and Content Creators Officially Move On to The Division 2
Destiny 2 players and content creators like Mactics and Rick Kackis are flocking back to The Division 2 as an alternative new home after Bungie’s looter-shooter’s death. The Division 2 offers some of the most similar gameplay in the industry to Destiny 2, as it’s a looter-shooter with builds, difficult endgame content that players can try to solo or tackle in groups, various zones to explore, and snappy-feeling weapons. On top of that, The Division 2 is still being updated regularly by Ubisoft, despite its low player count on Steam of just under 8,000 players daily. Still, Destiny 2‘s player count is almost 10x that of Marathon, and The Division 2 is almost double Marathon‘s. The Division 2‘s player count also saw a resurgence in the past couple of weeks, with the average count on Steam for the past 30 days being just over 4,000, but now sitting at 7,785 in the last 24 hours.
By comparison, Destiny 2 reached a new peak player count with Monument of Triumph, getting the highest number of players on Steam since the release of The Final Shape in June 2024. Bungie’s only remaining game is Marathon, and its current peak player number for the last 24 hours is 4,107. Moving on to The Division 2 is only natural for Destiny 2 players, as it ticks most of the same boxes as Bungie’s iconic title, and it’s also a live-service game, albeit with not-so-frequent major updates. Additionally, several The Division gamers moved on to Destiny 2 when it came out in 2017, making this move a full-circle moment. Content creators like Mactics and Rick Kackis can’t realistically keep their fanbase engaged with Destiny 2 videos for the long run, so a pivot to similar games with active support is the best course of action.
This doesn’t make it less painful, however. For example, Destiny 2‘s biggest content creator is retiring, as DattoDoesDestiny will no longer make content for the game after August 18, and instead will focus on Deadlock.
The official Destiny 3 petition got over 400,000 signatures over the past two and a half months, but it’s unclear whether it will have any impact. With limited options at hand for similar titles, many Destiny 2 players are left without a third space, thus seeking it elsewhere in other MMOs or shooter games.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence