Destiny 2 Might Finally Break the Glass: Leaked Survey Hints at SRL, Red War, and NPC Sidekicks
Bungie is staring at the lowest player counts in the game's history and asking the community if they want the "good old days" back to fix it.
Let's be honest with each other for a second. Destiny 2 is currently in a tailspin that makes a nose-diving plane look graceful. The Edge of Fate expansion launched not with a bang, but with a confused thud, struggling to hit 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. That sounds like a decent number until you remember that Lightfall and The Final Shape were pulling in triple that. Now? The average player count over the last month is hovering around 13,000. That is the lowest it has been since the game arrived on Steam in 2019.
Bungie knows this. They see the same depressing charts we do. And according to a new report from The Game Post, they are seemingly willing to try absolutely anything to stop the bleeding. A closed, invite-only survey has been circulating to select players, offering 500 Silver just for filling it out. But this isn't your standard "did you like the gun sounds" questionnaire. This is a desperation wishlist that includes everything from the return of the Red War campaign to the mythical Sparrow Racing League.
The "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" Wishlist
The survey, which was obtained by The Game Post, asks players to rank potential features that could be added to the game to improve their enjoyment. It reads less like a corporate roadmap and more like a fan-made Reddit thread from 2021 that got 10,000 upvotes.
The most shocking inclusion is undoubtedly the Sparrow Racing League (SRL). Bungie has historically shot down requests for SRL for years, claiming it costs too much to make for the amount of engagement it gets. Seeing it on an official survey means they are reconsidering that math. If the engagement on the core game is low enough, suddenly a niche racing mode looks a lot more attractive as a retention tool.
Here is a breakdown of the major activity changes Bungie is gauging interest in.
The Nostalgia Factor and Legal Troubles
The potential return of the Red War and Forsaken campaigns is significant. Destiny 2's current onboarding process is a confusing mess of half-finished narratives that requires a PhD in lore to understand. Bringing back the original campaigns would give the game a coherent beginning, middle, and end again.
It is actually kind of funny to note that Bungie recently settled a copyright lawsuit involving the Red War story, where they reportedly struggled to produce evidence because the content had been deleted for so long. They had to rely on fan wikis and YouTube videos to prove they owned their own game. Perhaps that legal headache reminded them of the value of keeping history accessible. Or maybe they just realize that "Red War" is a buzzword that gets veterans excited.
NPC Sidekicks and RPG Overhauls
The survey didn't stop at racing and old missions. It also proposed fundamental changes to how we play the game, borrowing heavily from other MMOs and even Bungie's own history.
The wildest suggestion is "NPC Sidekicks to equip and fight alongside your guardian." This sounds a lot like the Heroes system from Guild Wars or even the follower system in Diablo. It would fundamentally change the solo experience if you could bring Zavala or Crow (or a generic Frame) into a dungeon with you. It fundamentally shifts the game away from a "fireteam of players" requirement to something more solo-friendly.
They are also polling interest in "Power Prestiging," which would allow players to reset their power to 10 for... something. Visual clout? Rewards? It sounds incredibly grindy, but some players love that treadmill.
Looking at the Competition (Which is Also Bungie)
Perhaps the most telling part of the survey involves Destiny: Rising, the mobile game developed by NetEase. Bungie explicitly asked players "What does Destiny: Rising do better than Destiny 2?" and "What features from Destiny: Rising would you be interested in seeing added to Destiny 2?"
This is a slice of humble pie the size of the Traveler. The studio is openly acknowledging that the mobile spinoff might have better ideas than the flagship title. Rising features hero characters and different distinct gameplay loops that the main game lacks. If the community answers loudly enough, we might see more "hero shooter" elements bleeding into the main D2 ecosystem.
Surveys are not promises. Bungie throws ideas at the wall constantly to see what sticks. However, the specificity here tells a story. They aren't asking "do you like guns?" They are asking "Do you want SRL and the Red War back?" This is a studio looking at its lowest player count in history and realizing that the way forward might be looking backward. If unvaulting old content and bringing back fan-favorite modes is what it takes to save the game, then I say bring it on. Just don't make me pay for the Red War twice.