Bungie has officially revealed that Destiny 2 is going free-to-play, allowing players to dive into the experience free of charge starting later this year.
Revealed during a livestream held on June 6, the developers revealed that players could now play the game free of charge via a new version of the game called Destiny: New Light.
Through this new version, players can jump into the complete base game and any pre-Destiny 2: Forsaken content after completing the first mission. Locations within the game will slowly be unlocked as they progress through the New Light campaign.
However, the campaign content is optional and players’ new light characters can be carried over to any current and future add-ons and events tied to the experience.
“Once you enter New Light, in 10, 15, 20 minutes of the game, you will arrive at the part of the game that matters to you and your friends,” Destiny game director Luke Smith said.
This also came with the news that future add-ons and events won’t be locked off to those who haven’t purchased the base game in addition to the new content.
As a result, players only have to purchase the expansions they’d like to play and can use their characters from New Light. Their characters will be scaled to the appropriate levels and decked out accordingly to accommodate for the difficulty of the expansions.
All past expansions for Destiny 2 will likewise be bundled for $40, while the game’s next expansion Shadowkeep will be sold for a stand-alone price of $35.
The full stream and all of the details revealed can be viewed below.
The news came on the same day that it was revealed Destiny 2 would be available on Google’s upcoming digital gaming platform Stadia, along with a first glimpse of the game’s next batch of content tied to the newly revealed Shadowkeep expansion.
Both it and Destiny: New Light are scheduled to launch on Sept. 17.
For more on that, check out our coverage of the recent reveal of Shadowkeep via the Stadia Connect stream.
Destiny 2 is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
