Destiny 2 Episode Revenant, launched on October 8, 2024, struggles with the lowest day-one peak player numbers on Steam in history.
Destiny 2’s latest episode, Revenant, officially launched this week on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. This highly anticipated episode marks the second episode in the year of The Final Shape.
With a new storyline focusing on the return of Fikrul, the leader of the Scorn, new exotics, and activities, fans were looking forward to the new update, but it appears the excitement didn’t translate into bringing players back.
According to SteamDB, Episode Revenant hit an all-time low in terms of day-one peak player numbers on Steam. On day-one, Episode Revenant peaked at 78,328 players on Steam, far below the numbers seen in past releases.
Episode Revenant Launches with Record-Low Player Count in Destiny 2 History
For context, the game nearly hit a new all-time high concurrent player count on Steam with the launch of The Final Shape, reaching 314,634 players.
To compare the day-one peak player numbers with the second seasonal launch of the year, we have:
- Season of the Deep: 186,869
- Episode Revenant: 78,328
- Season 2 (2023 vs 2024): -58%
While these stats only reflect the Steam player base, they still indicate a significant decline compared to last year’s numbers. We don’t yet have the complete data for other platforms, but the trend suggests a noticeable drop in overall player engagement.
Here’s a breakdown of Destiny 2’s previous day-one Steam player counts for each expansion and seasonal launch:
- Shadowkeep / Season of the Undying: 214,100
- Season of Dawn: 138,602
- Season of the Worthy: 115,465
- Season of Arrivals: 172,109
- Beyond Light / Season of the Hunt: 242,284
- Season of the Chosen: 132,255
- Season of the Splicer: 157,679
- Season of the Lost: 178,241
- The Witch Queen / Season of the Risen: 290,112
- Season of the Haunted: 180,392
- Season of Plunder: 193,209
- Season of the Seraph: 122,279
- Lightfall / Season of Defiance: 316,750
- Season of the Deep: 186,869
- Season of the Witch: 126,261
- Season of the Wish: 94,670
- The Final Shape / Episode Echoes: 314,634
- Episode Revenant: 78,328
Several factors have contributed to this decline. First, many players were only hanging on to see the conclusion to the ten-year saga, which concluded with The Final Shape. Now that it’s over, many felt that it was the end of their Destiny journey.
Second, the game has followed a similar model for years, with no significant changes to the gameplay loop to keep things fresh. Lastly, Bungie has faced internal challenges recently, including a second round of layoffs, project cancellations, two key Destiny executives leaving, and more.
Bungie recently announced that it is moving away from one annual expansion release, to two Rise of Iron-sized expansions per year. The developer also announced the next “multi-year” saga for the game, starting with Codename Apollo, the first expansion launching in Summer 2025.
Destiny 2 Episode Revenant is now available on all platforms.
