Despite a positive reception toward its chosen theme and the new seasonal activity, Season of the Wish is struggling to revitalize Destiny 2’s decaying fan base—if Steam player counts are anything to go by.
On its launch date of Nov. 28, the season had the lowest peak on Steam of any season launch yet. As can be seen on SteamDB, and reported by Destiny Bulletin, Season of the Wish peaked at a player count of 94,670 in the first 24 hours. This puts it significantly below the previous record holder for the worst seasonal launch numbers, Season of the Worthy, which recorded a peak of 115,465 players on day one back in March 2020. It’s emblematic of a worrying decline post-Lightfall and undoubtedly made worse by the recent controversy surrounding the Bungie layoffs.
The return of iconic characters like Riven and Mara hasn’t had much of an impact. Image via Bungie
There is still a chance the player numbers could recover as the season goes on, though. A new dungeon, Warlord’s Ruin, is scheduled to launch this Friday, Dec. 1—an endgame activity that will inevitably draw a lot of players back once it’s available. Looking back on the previous example of Season of the Worthy, even that season managed to record a higher peak player count on the weekend after its Tuesday release. But it’s still not a great sign when the game is half a year away from the conclusion of its current 10-year saga and its community appears to be more disinterested in the franchise than ever.
There are a multitude of factors that might have contributed to this moment. First and foremost, The Final Shape release date has been delayed to June 4, which means Season of the Wish will now be over six months long. That relieves some of the pressure that might be there with a traditional three-month season to log in on day one—after all, players have half a year to play catch up. When factored in with general fatigue toward Destiny 2’s seasonal model, which has been a topic of discussion since Season of the Seraph, players just aren’t as excited to see what Season of the Wish has to offer.
That fatigue was exacerbated when, on Oct. 30, Bungie was hit with a round of layoffs that saw around 100 employees let go. This was, according to reporting by Bloomberg, in part due to Destiny 2 running 45 percent below revenue projections for the year. Season of the Wish’s launch numbers don’t reflect a mass exodus by any means but display that each of these issues has contributed to a downward spiral that Destiny 2 is struggling to break free from.
It’s unclear if the new dungeon, events like the Dawning, or even the recently announced Into The Light content update can give Season of the Wish a second wind.
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