Destiny 2 just hit its lowest player count in the franchise's history

Despite a successful life span that is still ongoing almost 10 years later, it appears that Bungie’s online multiplayer shooter Destiny 2 has just hit its lowest player count so far.

Released in 2017 as a direct sequel to Destiny, Destiny 2 is Bungie’s free-to-play online multiplayer title. Thanks to a dedicated fanbase, it has gone on to become one of the most successful multiplayer FPS games of all time but as a result of some recent events, it seems some people are giving up on it.

Check out the Destiny 2: The Final Shape reveal trailer below!

According to Steam Database statistics, Destiny 2 is currently experiencing its lowest player count in the franchise’s history with the title hitting a 24 hour peak of just 38,000 players. With the all-time peak hitting an admirable 316,750, this is a drastic drop for the title. However, with Bungie recently laying off around 100 of its employees, it is perhaps no surprise that fans are unhappy.

Bungie took responsibility for the layoffs, rather than blaming it on Sony’s directive to cut costs, however, with Bungie boss Peter Parsons merely referring to the mass lay off as a “sad day” on Twitter, he was criticised for his tone deaf approach.

The reasons behind Destiny 2’s dwindling numbers have also been attributed to the disappointing pre-order numbers for the title’s next major expansion The Final Shape. Releasing in February 2024, the expansion will mark the end of Destiny’s The Light and Darkness Saga with all events of the story so far leading up to that point.

With Parson reportedly informing staff that Bungie had “kept the right people” to keep numbers up and the franchise successful, it remains to be seen if this is the case. However, with concurrent players quickly decreasing, Bungie will need to pull out all the stops to restore players' faith.