Destiny goes free-to-play as Destiny 2: New Light

Bungie is launching a free-to-play version of Destiny 2 alongside the game’s upcoming expansion Shadowkeep called Destiny 2: New Light.

New Light launches on September 17 aims to offer new players an appealing place to start playing Destiny 2 without having to play a pricey game of catch-up with its existing DLC. It’s a significant shift for developer Bungie, and one of a handful major changes announced since the company regained publishing rights from Activision.

Destiny 2: New Light offers the base game and all of Destiny 2’s year-one content. Something new for the free-to-play version is the ability to explore areas introduced in year-two content without purchasing the expansions themselves, though playing specific missions still require a purchase.

The New Light announcement followed Bungie’s official reaveal of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. That expansion pack represents a couple other significant departures from previous Destiny 2 content drops. For one, Shadowkeep won’t require players to own all preceding Destiny 2 DLC unlike past packs.

On top of that, Bungie got the all-clear to bring support for cross-platform save transfers on all platforms (including its just-announced Stadia version), revealed that it will no longer release platform-exclusive gear or activities, and announced that, in the wake of the Activision/Bungie split, Destiny 2 will be moving from Battle.net to Steam on PC.