Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion put an end to a 10-year saga, and it’s natural for fans to think about Destiny 3.
The current installment of the franchise is already seven years old, which comes with a heavy burden. The idea of a Destiny 3 has loomed around the community, but more as a far-off hypothetical than anything certain. While The Final Shape was a great setup for the future of the series, those plans seem to be in jeopardy, especially after Bungie laid off 220 of its workers less than two months after the Destiny 2 expansion was released.
Here’s what we know so far about Destiny 3—and why it’s probably not coming in the near future.
Has Destiny 3 been canceled?
The dreams of a third Destiny title may just be wishful thinking. Destiny 3 is unlikely to be a reality any time soon—though whether the sequel was canceled is a matter of semantics.
“Destiny 3 was not canceled because it was never in development, per people familiar,” Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported after the July 2024 layoffs. A sequel would be “too risky and costly,” Forbes’ Paul Tassi reported. Seeing a Destiny 3 may be almost impossible.
Instead of making a sequel, Bungie tried to make a now-defunct spinoff called Payback, according to Schreier, though it was also put on the back burner. Now, the studio plans to focus on a “smoother onboarding process for Destiny 2” and a different content structure.
Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb also reported that Payback—which Bungie supposedly called “the next Destiny” internally—would be shelved. “A Destiny 3 or next Destiny is just not the thing that they are coming out of this looking toward, let alone working on in any real way,” Grubb added.
What is Codename Payback in Destiny?
Fans who are looking for a third Destiny might find mentions of “Payback,” the nickname for one of Destiny 2‘s most infamous leaks. At the time, some believed this would be a foundation for a potential next installment in the franchise. This leak said Payback was a working title for Destiny 3. In practice, however, the project was a different beast.
Payback was “an incubation project set in the Destiny universe,” according to Schreier, and not a sequel to the franchise. Its departure from the established formula lies in more than its name, though: Payback would take inspiration from titles like Warframe and Genshin Impact, pushing a third-person perspective and different gameplay goals.
Has Payback been canceled?
While Payback‘s existence was somewhat mythical, reports after the July 2024 layoffs indicate the project has been put to rest.
“Bungie did some very early work on a spinoff project called Payback, but they canceled that a while ago,” Schreier reported. “Two months ago Bungie canceled Payback to prioritize games that were more imminent,” he said in a Bloomberg report, pushing the team toward Marathon instead. Grubb also reported the project was “going on the shelf indefinitely.”
While the possibility of ever having a sequel to Destiny 2 seems more and more dismal, Payback doesn’t seem to live up to what some fans expected of it as a full-on title—and it’s likely never seeing the light of day.
