Since the Forsaken expansion debuted in 2018, Destiny 2 has followed a particularly rigid structure of seasons. Instead of releasing large amounts of content more-or-less once a year, Bungie has focused on slightly less macrocosmic content releases every few months. Bungie is taking a more live-service approach to Destiny 2 compared to MMOs, which typically release content in a similar timeframe of a year or two between major expansions. While many of Destiny 2‘s fanbase will argue at length the benefits and drawbacks of seasonal content compared to larger expansions, it’s made the gameplay experience much more consistent in terms of update pacing.
Typically, big expansions and seasonal updates for Destiny 2 have been relatively predictable when it comes to release dates. However, because Beyond Light was unfortunately delayed to November 10, the usual schedule for expansions had to shift to compensate for the delay. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Destiny 2‘s schedule moving forward, but it does mean that The Witch Queen expansion may come at a later time than usual as well, depending on how Destiny 2‘s schedule adjusts. Considering the next season has moved to an earlier month compared to previous years, it’s looking very likely that Destiny 2‘s whole schedule has shifted.
When Bungie began the seasonal approach with Destiny 2: Forsaken, the game started with rigid 90-day intervals of seasons. Granted this would reduce to around 60-days for Season of the Undying, but after that, it would be around three months between every season. From December to March, and so on, the entirety of Year Three of Destiny 2 would follow this structure. It wasn’t until the end of Shadowkeep where Season of Arrivals would be artificially extended, as a result of Destiny 2: Beyond Light being delayed. Initially it was unclear if Bungie would stay rigid in its seasonal content schedule, but evidently the whole schedule has flexed to new dates.
In the wake of Destiny 2: Beyond Light‘s delay, the first season of Year Four is going to extend into next February. That means Season of the Hunt, Destiny 2‘s current season, is going to stick to the 90-day seasonal schedule for the foreseeable future. According to Bungie’s official website, Season of the Hunt only lasts until February 9, 2021. That means this next season, recently rumored to be “Season of the Chosen,” would theoretically start on February 10 barring any logistical issues. That’s significantly later than the usual next season start date, which typically falls in March.
Unless Bungie compensates with a shorter season at some point in Beyond Light‘s Year Four, it’s pretty clear what the new date may be. Unless one of the upcoming seasons is shortened, or however Bungie would be willing to adjust the schedule, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen would release on November 10th in that scenario. If Destiny 2 does intend on releasing four full seasons, that’s where things get a little more complicated for The Witch Queen‘s release date. That would mean the three month intervals Destiny 2 usually employs would need to do some shuffling to filter in a fourth season and maintain a September release, which has certainly happened before.
The only reason why that may not happen here is because, in particular, the only time a season was shortened was in Shadowkeep‘s inaugural Season of the Undying. Considering it’s already clear Beyond Light‘s Season of the Hunt is going to span the usual 90 days, Destiny 2 may just stick to three and a half content seasons for Year Four. Alternatively, the only other option would be to shorten the last season before The Witch Queen‘s theoretical release date. That would likely occur in the case that Bungie wants to return to its usual content release schedule, thus shortening the last season’s end to some point in late September/early October for The Witch Queen.
A likely scenario for Bungie would be to implement a shorter last season at some point between July/August and October. Rather than just utilizing four full seasons, and sticking with the current seasonal release schedule for Destiny 2, Bungie could return the game back to its usual content schedule. For one thing, the October/November time frame in any year is particularly busy for video game releases. Destiny 2 previously launched Shadowkeep much earlier on October 1, which not only helped the success of the season and the expansion’s debut, but also avoided any conflicts with other major holiday releases. Bungie will likely want to return to that framework.
What does that mean for Destiny 2: The Witch Queen‘s release date? It’s very possible The Witch Queen will be shuffled up to September 28, 2021. Again, that’s assuming Bungie is willing to shorten one season and elongate another, based on its current season content trajectory. The less likely outcome would be for Beyond Light to stick with four full-length seasons and stick with a November release date. Bungie would be placing Destiny 2 into an unnecessarily bad position, with plenty of competing releases vying for players time. A late September/early October release for The Witch Queen, at the expense of one season, seems like the most likely outcome for Bungie.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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