While Destiny 3 felt like a certainty at one point, after splitting off from Activision, Bungie made the decision to double down on Destiny 2 with years of extra content. At this point, it seemed that Destiny 2 would not be replaced anytime soon, even after its upcoming expansion, The Final Shape, which ends the series' first major story arc. However, credible leaks now suggest that Destiny 3 may be back on the table.
About a month ago, an anonymous leaker posted on Reddit about a bunch of on-going efforts at Bungie. While the leaker isn't sure that Destiny 3 is still actively in development right now, it had been in the works fairly recently. Why would we put faith in this anonymous source? Well this same leaker also revealed ‘Prism' in the same post, describing it as a system to mix and match powers from different subclasses. Bungie announced this exact thing this week during a showcase for The Final Shape, although the name is slightly different, instead of Prism, the true name is ‘Prismatic' and it is indeed a subclass that combines the powers of Light and Dark, with the ability for players to utilise Solar, Void and Arc damage. For many fans, the Prismatic subclass was the best reveal of the whole Final Shape showcase.
The leaker claimed that Destiny 3 was in development under the codename ‘Payback' but was quick to clarify that this is not a spoiler and does not mean that Guardians ‘lose' at the end of The Final Shape, or the ‘Episodes' planned for after its release. This version of Destiny 3 would do away with the current subclass system, which could allow for much greater customisation for players and open the door for a lot of interesting builds.
To add on to this, at the end of The Final Shape live stream, we had a rare appearance from executive creative director, Luke Smith, who teased that Bungie will confirm “what's coming next to Destiny 2 and beyond” after the expansion launches. That seems like as clear an indication as any that a new Destiny game is on the cards, moving players on from Destiny 2.
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KitGuru Says: Given that The Final Shape is going to wrap up the main story arc that kicked off the whole Destiny franchise, I would like to think that Destiny 3 is being planned. Any more expansions after this would feel like dragging things out. What Destiny really needs after this is a God of War style reboot that refreshes the gameplay in completely new ways. Events from the past can still be referenced this way, but it will still feel like a distinct and new game.