Destiny 2’s total player numbers have dropped below the point where Bungie once said the game was just weeks from being shut down.
It’s not an exaggeration to say Destiny 2 is in one of its roughest spots ever. It’s something you can see in nearly every community post, YouTube comment, or even the game’s Steam page, which currently sits at “Mostly Negative” for recent reviews.
On Steam, the game recently hit its lowest average player count ever, around 17,400 players, a record low since the game moved to the platform in 2019. For weeks, frustrated players have been pointing to Steam’s dwindling player count as a warning sign, but there’s always been debate around how well those numbers reflect the game’s total health across all platforms.
But now, we have something more complete. A community-run site called popularity.report tracks Destiny 2’s total player population (via the Bungie API) across all platforms and activities. It also logs daily online player counts, giving us the clearest view yet of how many people are actually playing.
And… things are not looking good. In fact, the numbers have now fallen below the lows of Curse of Osiris (2017), which has widely been considered as the lowest point in Destiny 2’s history, in terms of player population.
“We Were Literally Five Weeks Away From Shuttering Destiny 2”
That line comes straight from Justin Truman, who’s now Bungie’s studio head after Pete Parsons stepped down as CEO. Speaking during his GDC talk in 2023, titled “From Box Products to Live Service: How ‘Destiny 2’ Transformed Bungie,” Truman looked back at the early years of Destiny 2 and how close things came to shutting down Destiny 2.
Referring to the weekly active users graph in 2018, Truman said, “This moment right here, in February of 2018, was f***ing terrifying. So, this graph shows the trend of our weekly active users, and at the rate that we were shedding players… if this continued for just five more weeks, we would run out of players, the entire population would be gone, and we were seriously looking at potentially being one month away from having to just close up shop on Destiny 2 altogether.”
That dip in active players came right after Curse of Osiris launched in late 2017, an expansion that received major backlash at the time. Truman added that the team was “literally five weeks away from shuttering Destiny 2 as a product.”
What saved the game was a major turnaround that began with Forsaken later that year, which rebuilt player trust and started Destiny 2’s live-service revival.
But now, seven years later, Destiny 2 seems to be circling back to that same state.
Destiny 2 Player Count Comparison: Curse of Osiris vs. Now
After going through and analyzing the daily player data from popularity.report, we found that during mid-March 2018 (after Curse of Osiris), Destiny 2’s lowest daily online player count hovered between mid to high 400,000, only occasionally dipping just below 400,000. That was considered rock bottom back then, the “five weeks from shutdown” moment Bungie referenced.
Check out Destiny 2’s post-Curse of Osiris player count below:
- March 15, 2018: 386,332
- March 17, 2018: 486,167
- March 18, 2018: 463,803
- March 19, 2018: 363,999
- March 21, 2018: 408,329
- March 22, 2018: 382,932
- March 23, 2018: 409,365
- March 25, 2018: 471,189
- March 26, 2018: 391,985
- March 27, 2018: 487,125
- March 29, 2018: 506,643
- March 30, 2018: 544,038
Fast forward to now — from late September through October 2025 — data shows Destiny 2’s total daily online population hovering in the mid-300,000 range, with some days even dropping below 300,000. These are the lowest all-platform player count Destiny 2 has ever seen. Not just on Steam, but everywhere.
Check out Destiny 2’s current player count below:
- September 22, 2025: 364,843
- September 23, 2025: 377,191
- September 25, 2025: 328,944
- September 26, 2025: 344,573
- September 27, 2025: 366,745
- September 29, 2025: 317,849
- September 30, 2025: 327,259
- October 1, 2025: 314,797
- October 2, 2025: 293,242
- October 3, 2025: 304,882
- October 4, 2025: ~325,530
- October 6, 2025: ~284,650
- October 7, 2025: ~334,570
- October 8, 2025: ~362,390
- October 9, 2025: ~323,860
- October 11, 2025: ~302,410
In short: Destiny 2 now has fewer active players than it did when Bungie thought the game might die. It’s important to note that the data referenced here may not perfectly represent Bungie’s official numbers, as it is not officially published by the studio itself.
Destiny 2 Is Bringing In Fewer New Players Than Ever
Popularity.report also tracks how many brand-new players Destiny 2 brings in each day, and the data paints a long-term problem rather than a short-term dip. Each row in the heatmap represents a season, from the Red War campaign in 2017 to the current Season 27: Reclamation, with color intensity showing how many new players joined per day.
Yes, Destiny 2’s new-player acquisition has worsened after The Final Shape, which concluded the game’s 10-year Light and Darkness saga, and that decline continued with The Edge of Fate, as shown in the heatmap. But this isn’t a new issue—new player acquisition has been stagnant for years now.. The game’s daily new-player numbers have remained stuck in roughly the same range since 2022–23 (with some exceptions, of course), showing little sign of growth even through major expansions.
Check out Destiny 2’s daily new player acquisition numbers below:
- September 22, 2025: 5632
- September 23, 2025: 4096
- September 24, 2025: 5044
- September 25, 2025: 4906
- September 26, 2025: 5048
- September 27, 2025: 6459
- September 28, 2025: 7248
- September 29, 2025: 4959
- September 30, 2025: 4639
- October 1, 2025: 4804
- October 2, 2025: 4918
- October 3, 2025: 5443
- October 4, 2025: 7126
- October 5, 2025: 7369
- October 6, 2025: 5070
- October 7, 2025: 4053
- October 8, 2025: 4334
- October 9, 2025: 4250
- October 10, 2025: 4485
- October 11, 2025: 5640
So, yes, Destiny 2 is still bringing in new players, at least according to data from popularity.report. However, it’s clear that the game isn’t doing enough to retain those players, as reflected by its steadily declining overall player count.
Editor’s note: This section has been updated to include additional context and data on Destiny 2’s new-player acquisition trends.
What That Means for Destiny 2’s Future
So, is Bungie going to shut down Destiny 2? It’s worth remembering that Bungie isn’t an independent studio anymore. And while Destiny 2’s population right now is at its lowest point ever, it’s unlikely that Sony would completely pull the plug anytime soon. Destiny remains one of the most successful live-service franchises ever made when you look at its performance over the past decade.
That said, it’s also pretty clear that Destiny 2, in its current state, is on the back burner for now, with Bungie’s main focus being Marathon, the upcoming extraction shooter that’s meant to be the studio’s next big live-service flagship. Bungie needs that game to hit, not just for its own future, but for Sony’s wider live-service strategy, which has been shaky after several delays and cancellations.
If Marathon succeeds, Bungie will have proven it can launch another long-term franchise beyond Destiny. If it doesn’t, though… things could get worse.
Many long-time content creators have taken breaks or scaled back their coverage, including Datto and GrenaderJake, each citing burnout and frustration with the game’s direction.
Destiny 2 isn’t dead — not yet — but it’s undeniably in trouble. When the player count is lower than the period Bungie once said nearly killed the game, which should raise alarms. For now, all eyes are on the Star Wars-themed expansion Renegades and, of course, Marathon.
What do you think? Can Bungie pull off another comeback, or has Destiny 2 finally hit the point of no return?
Source link
