Destiny 2 to move to Steam, shift to free-to-play model starting with Shadowkeep

By Aaron Mamiit June 9, 2019

Destiny 2 will be moving to Steam from Activision’s Battle.net starting with its next major expansion, Shadowkeep, while also shifting to a free-to-play model for the shooter’s base game.

Shadowkeep, which will take players to the moon once it launches on September 17, is the first Destiny 2 expansion since Bungie ended its partnership with publisher Activision in January. The game is among the launch titles of Google Stadia, with cross-save functionality between the cloud gaming platform, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Recommended Videos

Destiny 2 will be jumping to Steam as soon as Shadowkeep is rolled out, with current PC players to be able to easily transfer all their progress from the current Battle.net client at no cost. Bungie said that it will provide more details regarding the transition later this summer.

Another major change coming to Destiny 2 is that its base game will be rebranded as Destiny 2: New Light, as it goes free-to-play alongside the Shadowkeep release. The free version will include all year one missions and content, such as the co-op dungeons and player-vs-player Crucible modes, to provide newcomers to the game with a new entry point.

Shadowkeep will be a standalone expansion, which means that Destiny 2 players will only need the base game if they want to purchase it. They will not need to have bought the previous expansions, namely Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken, to enjoy Shadowkeep. Moving forward, Bungie will allow players to choose the updates that they want to buy, instead of requiring them to commit to an annual pass.

Shadowkeep will be sold for $35, with every purchase to include the first season of new content following the release of the expansion. Bungie has currently bundled all previously released Destiny 2 content, which includes the base game, all expansions, and the annual pass, at a reduced price of $40, so players who would like to jump in will be able to do so at a low cost.

The announcements on the future of Destiny 2 comes just as E3 2019 kicks off. Gamers are looking forward to a bevy of new reveals, including Gears 5, Halo Infinite, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Doom Eternal, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs Legion, and many more.

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…

Gaming

6 free indie game demos you should play during the Steam Next Fest

Key art for Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus.

In the wake of several awesome video game showcases, the latest Steam Next Fest has arrived. Running from June 10 until June 17, this event on PC gaming storefront and launcher Steam gives indie developers and publishers a chance to share limited-time demos of their upcoming games so players can discover all the neat titles on the way in the indie space. It’s a reminder of the creativity of this industry in a year where companies are prioritizing profits over passion.

There are hundreds of demos in this year’s Steam Next Fest, so it can be a bit hard to sift through everything and discover the most entertaining titles. I had the opportunity to try many of them out ahead of Steam Next Fest over the past couple of weeks. From idle sandbox games to pretty Metroidvanias, these are the indie games from June 2024’s Steam Next Fest that stuck out to me the most and are worth trying for free sometime this week.
Claws & Chaos

Gaming

Bungie apologizes for rough Destiny 2: The Final Shape launch: ‘We’re truly sorry’

Key art for Destiny 2: The Final Shape. It shows three characters standing in front of an orange sky.

The launch of Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion was highly anticipated by the player base, but it didn't go smoothly. Its developer, Bungie, has apologized for all the interruptions, which have included skipped cutscenes, the inability to access the game's servers, and more.

In a thread posted to X (formerly Twitter) early Wednesday morning, the team wrote out an apology, along with some explanations about what is being done to fix some of expansion's the major issues. "If connection issues have blocked you from playing or enjoying The Final Shape today, we want to apologize," the post reads. "We’re truly sorry if connection issues and instability is getting in the way of that experience, and we promise to keep working until these issues are resolved."

Gaming

You’ll finally be able to play Half-Life: Alyx on PlayStation VR2 this summer

Half-Life Alyx being played with a PlayStation VR2 headset.

Sony has finally unveiled its PC adapter for PlayStation VR2, which will be released this August and finally enable players to try games like Half-Life: Alyx with the headset.

PSVR2 sports some impressive tech, but it's no secret that Sony has failed to support it with compelling games for the PS5. Earlier this year, it was teased that Sony was working on PC compatibility for the headset; now, we've learned that this will come in the form of a PC adapter that people can use with a DisplayPort 1.4 cable in order to play VR games through Steam. These are the minimum specs your PC will need in order to get the PSVR2 up and running, straight from the PlayStation Blog.