Destiny 2 gears up for next act of Heresy, teams up with Sea of Thieves, and outlines player retention strategies

Although the Game Developers Conference has concluded, we’re still uncovering insights into the inner workings of game development, and sometimes, the process isn’t pretty. Take Destiny 2, for instance, and its struggle to retain players, as explained by principal technical designer Alan Blaine during a candid and somewhat disheartening GDC panel.

“[S]tarting in September 2022 and continuing through November, our weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we’d seen since 2018 with no apparent cause,” Blaine recalled. “Player sentiment was also declining rapidly. […] At the same time, pre-orders for our yearly expansion were significantly below expectations.”

The response was to assemble a player retention team, drawing expertise from various fields to quickly implement solutions during what sounds like a chaotic and crunch-intensive period. Blaine described how the team worked tirelessly to identify and deploy changes within a week, often completing tasks in just a day or two to ensure testing could be completed on time.

Blaine noted that the team’s efforts improved player sentiment, though he acknowledged that criticism of the Lightfall expansion’s narrative was beyond their scope. “If players had issues with the story, […] that wasn’t something my team could address, but fine-tuning gameplay mechanics was exactly what we were built for,” he explained.

As for current events in Destiny 2, the game is preparing for the launch of act 3 of the Heresy episode on April 1st. This update will introduce a new area, enemies, mechanics, and reward adjustments for the Court of Blades activity. Players can also look forward to new catalysts for the Barrow-Dyad exotic weapon, additional seasonal artifact perks, and a revamped grandmaster version of The Sunless Cell strike.

In a surprising crossover, Destiny 2 continues its trend of quirky promotional collaborations, this time with cash shop items in Sea of Thieves. These items allow players to customize their ships, weapons, and characters with “Lightbearer” aesthetics inspired by the FPS.