Destiny 2’s Renegades Launch Sees Record-Low Steam Player Count
▼ Summary
– Destiny 2’s new expansion, Renegades, has received positive early feedback for its campaign, Star Wars-inspired content, and fun new weapons.
– Despite this positive reception, Renegades achieved the lowest day-one player peak on Steam in the game’s history, with only 71,278 concurrent players.
– This launch number is significantly lower than previous major expansions and even the poorly received prior expansion, Edge of Fate.
– The low Steam numbers indicate a continued rough period for Destiny 2, following player dissatisfaction and population decline after Edge of Fate.
– Bungie plans to share a future roadmap for Destiny, and rumors suggest early development on Destiny 3 may have begun.
The launch of Destiny 2’s Renegades expansion has set a new record-low for concurrent players on Steam, marking a significant drop in day-one engagement despite largely positive early reviews from the community. This latest chapter returns Guardians to Mars, plunging them into a chaotic frontier ruled by smugglers and criminal empires. Players ally with familiar faces like the Drifter, Eris Morn, and Aunor Mahal to confront a galaxy-ending danger. The expansion is notable as Destiny’s first major crossover, featuring a partnership with Lucasfilm that introduces Star Wars-themed weaponry, armor, and cinematic flair while keeping the narrative grounded in the game’s own lore.
Initial player impressions of the campaign have been favorable, with many highlighting improved mission design, more explosive set pieces, and the enjoyable new Blaster weapon archetype. For a community that endured a difficult previous year, Renegades is being viewed by several as a meaningful step in the right direction for the game’s overall health.
However, this critical goodwill stands in stark contrast to the hard data emerging from Steam. The expansion’s predecessor, The Edge of Fate, was met with widespread criticism over excessive grind, convoluted new currencies, and its Portal system. That negative reception triggered a steep, months-long decline in Steam’s player population, driving away a portion of the long-term audience. The newly released numbers for Renegades indicate it has failed to reverse this trend, failing to even reach the already diminished day-one peak of The Edge of Fate.
According to statistics from SteamDB, Renegades achieved a peak of just 71,278 concurrent players on its first day. This figure represents the lowest launch peak for any major Destiny 2 expansion, season, episode, or paid content drop to date. For comparison, The Edge of Fate peaked at 98,211 players at launch. Even smaller episodic content like Episode Heresy and Episode Revenant drew higher initial crowds, with peaks of 77,399 and 78,328 respectively.
The decline becomes even more pronounced when comparing Renegades to the game’s historically large expansions. Lightfall launched with a peak of 316,750 players, and The Final Shape hit 314,634. Renegades’ day-one player count sits at roughly 23% of Lightfall’s peak and only about 72% of Edge of Fate’s, illustrating a dramatic downturn for a franchise that once regularly surpassed 300,000 concurrent users on Steam alone.
It is crucial to note that Steam represents just one platform; Destiny 2 also has substantial player bases on PlayStation and Xbox, whose numbers are not publicly tracked. Nevertheless, Steam data has long served as a reliable indicator of broader player interest and trends, and the current trajectory is unmistakably downward.
The situation carries a note of irony, as the community’s reception to Renegades’ content appears more positive than it was for the last expansion. Players are actively praising the Star Wars-inspired narrative elements, the exotic Praxic Blade that functions like a lightsaber, and a campaign that feels designed for enjoyment rather than obligation.
One player on the game’s subreddit commented, “The Renegades campaign is just pure fun, and it feels good to have fun again. Having just finished it, I feel really confident in saying this may be the most fun I’ve ever had in a Destiny campaign.” Another noted that the new weapons and aesthetic make the experience “so much better” than the previous expansion.
Some feedback remains more cautious, even among those enjoying the new content. A different user observed, “I had fun with the campaign so far, but this feels more like an extended season. I finished it and did a few follow-up quests, and I can confidently say this DLC is pretty much a season, a bigger-sized one at best, with only the first and last missions feeling like traditional campaign missions.”
Looking to the future, Bungie has announced plans to reveal a multi-year roadmap and a new State of the Game update next year, outlining what lies beyond Renegades. Additionally, new rumors suggest that early development on a full Destiny 3 sequel may have begun at the studio, though no official confirmation has been provided.
(Source: The Game Spot)
