Destiny 2 Next-Gen Upgrade Release Date and Specs Revealed

Bungie has confirmed that the next-gen version of Destiny 2 will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S in December.

“Earlier today, we announced how Destiny will perform on your next-generation console devices,” says Bungie via a recent blog post. “If you have a pre-order in hand, we want to set expectations for when the full suite of next-gen enhancements to the Destiny player experience will land. These upgrades will be delivered on December 8.”

If you’re wondering how next-gen consoles will improve the core Destiny 2 experience, this chart should offer an overview of the upgrade’s specs:

Truth be told, nothing on that chart jumps out as a surprise. We already know that the Series S won’t support 4K resolutions, so the one major difference between the next-gen consoles really isn’t that major at all.

The field of view update is particularly interesting. Field of view sliders are a common feature in many PC games (or at least they should be), but we really haven’t seen them in many console games over the years. Bungie indicates that they’re still working on the specifics of this slider feature, but we’re interested to see how it works and whether or not more console titles will adopt that option in the next generation.

As for the promised “Faster Load Times,” that’s a bit more complicated. Bungie explains that loading the actual game or browsing your inventory will feel much faster in the next-gen upgraded version of the game, but faster load times won’t necessarily apply to things like matchmaking which are based on network connections. Destiny‘s load times weren’t necessarily a big issue before now, but we’ll take whatever improvements wherever they may come from.

Finally, Bungie explains that cross-generation play is console specific. In other words, Xbox Series X/S players will be able to play with Xbox One players and PlayStation 5 gamers will be able to play with PS4 gamers. Interestingly, the faster load times and cross-gen play will be available on November 10 (in time for the Xbox Series X/S launch) with the other improvements coming in December.

We’re still waiting to see how the first batch of next-gen optimized ports of existing games will fare across the board, but if this information is any indication, it sounds like you should expect such titles to immediately offer better frame rates, faster loading times, and enhanced resolutions, at a minimum. As always, though, we wouldn’t turn to these ports if you’re looking for a display of next-gen gaming’s true capabilities.