“Destiny” is a franchise I’ve been playing since the beginning. Enthralled by the amazing visuals, action packed gameplay, and outstanding abilities, I fell in love with “Destiny” and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. Then, “Destiny 2” came out and blew the first game away.

In the “Destiny” community, longtime players are called “veterans,” which isn’t surprising since it’s a shooter. I fit the bill, but the community gets so obsessed with the term that I stopped caring about it all together. Who cares how long you’ve played? I’ve met longtime players who were terrible teammates and had no clue what they were doing.

The community for “Destiny 2” is exhaustingly negative, but they can be ignored. The problem, however, is the game is exhausting too. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed most of my time playing the game, but there were times I wanted to punch my TV into pieces. (That might say more about me though to be fair.)

Still, the game has always been needlessly tedious at times, from having a permanent power level gap on Neomuna (the main planet in the Lightfall expansion), to never-ending enemy spawns in timed boss rooms.

These are issues that are present in other games too, but “Destiny 2” definitely takes the cake. The real issue though, is Bungie. Ever since the release of “Destiny 2”, bizarre and tone deaf changes have sent the fanbase into a frenzy every now and then. It’s utterly ridiculous how out of touch the leadership of Bungie is, and it’s only gotten worse since I took a break.

Back in 2024, it was revealed that former Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons, was using the money he gained from laying off 200+ employees to pay for his ‘classic car collection’. The gall to fire 200+ employees near the holidays just to buy another ’70s muscle car sent the fanbase into a rage, but it was quickly quieted down by the release of “The Final Shape”.

Yet the consequences remained. Many fans (me included) became disillusioned with the game as we realized something – this game isn’t worth it right now. I’m not putting my effort into a game just for that money to fund some rich egomaniac’s car collection while he throws his former employees out onto the curb. So I dropped the game.

Yet another issue soon followed as I realized how much I loved the game. I put in a lot of time because I found the game fun. It hurts seeing something you cared about fall apart in front of you, especially when you know that the people ruining it aren’t the ones making the game.

Three weeks ago, “Destiny 2” hit its lowest Steam daily player count, and if Bungie doesn’t change, it’s only going to get lower. Not only has Bungie chosen to drip feed content and release a barebones mini-expansion to tide fans over, but they’ve converted to a new system known as the Portal, and everyone hates it.

The Portal is considered poorly implemented and buggy, and even ignoring all the new issues it’s caused, the longtime problems have been killing the game since the beginning. The annoying power grind, the ridiculous microtransactions, and the Sunsetting (don’t get me started) have become hard to ignore, especially now that the new issues have worsened the old ones.

How do you fail your fanbase so horribly? By choosing money over quality. Bungie would rather drain your wallet with microtransactions and overpriced DLCs than actually give the fans what they want because they’re greedy. Decision after decision has turned a once fun and great game into a husk of its former self.

Perhaps the game will take a step back and fix itself, but there’s not much hope there. It’s hard to believe when your hopes have been crushed again and again. Many fans don’t want the game to die on a sour note, but Bungie doesn’t remember how to orchestrate anymore.