Highlights

  • Destiny 2 has outlasted many rivals in the gaming world, with the term "Destiny killer" thrown around in jest.
  • Live-service looter-shooter games are the main contenders for Destiny 2's fanbase attention in a competitive landscape.
  • While some games like Anthem and Outriders fell short, others like Warframe continue to challenge Destiny 2's dominance.

By this point in Destiny 2’s lifetime, it has become a meme to speculate whether other upcoming games will be the end of Destiny 2’s popularity, but Destiny 2 and the original game have proven to outlast any rivalry so far. However, the term ‘Destiny killer’ still gets thrown around by the game’s community both in jest and in full seriousness. Also, some parts of Destiny 2’s community often debate whether the game will be its own killer, but it ultimately remains to be seen how and when Destiny 2 will die.

It could be argued that any game from any genre released during Destiny 2’s lifetime can be classified as a ‘Destiny killer’ by naturally taking fans away from Destiny, even temporarily. However, games that are live-service, looter-shooters, and/or both, have a lot more in common with Destiny and are generally more susceptible to competing with the game’s fanbase on a long-term scale. These genres are constantly growing with more and more games for players to get their hands on, consequently creating competition for how fans of these gaming genres spend their limited playtime, potentially stealing Destiny2's thunder in the process.

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Anthem

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  • Release Date: February 22, 2019
  • Developer: BioWare

Anthem was a very short-lived game, given that plans for its ongoing development as well as plans for a potential reboot sequel to Anthem were canceled around two years after the initial game’s release. While Anthem did have a few good things going for it, there were far more criticisms for the game than there were ever praises, so BioWare ultimately decided to abandon the game and prioritize the studios’ more established franchises.

Borderlands 3

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  • Release Date: September 13, 2019
  • Developer: Gearbox Software

Borderlands may be a huge franchise now, but it’s still in the same boat as some of Destiny 2’s other competitors for the time being. Specifically, since Borderlands isn’t a live-service franchise, most of the casual fans at this point are likely taking a break until the upcoming releases in the franchise, like Borderlands4 and the Borderlands movie. Among the games and DLCs in the Borderlands franchise, there’s a massive amount of content for fans to play, but it does come to an end at some point when players can run out of new things to do and move on.

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Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite Cover Text
  • Release Date: December 8, 2021
  • Developer: 343 Industries

Considering that the development studio behind Destiny 2 formerly developed some of the older Halo games, competition between Destiny and Halo is inevitable. As the latest chapter in the franchise, Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer kicked the game off to a strong start. However, the only time that HaloInfinite has ever been able to surpass Destiny 2’s active monthly player count on Steam so far has been the first month of HaloInfinite’s release.

Outriders

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  • Release Date: April 1, 2021
  • Developer: People Can Fly

Unlike most of the other looter-shooters that have competed with the likes of Destiny 2, Outriders being a new IP meant that it didn’t have the benefit of a franchise’s existing community to support the game. Consequently, when the game launched with server issues and bugs, it received a tarnished reputation that turned some fans away from the game for good. Not to mention, Outriders isn’t a live-service game, so unless Outriders considers releasing a sequel, its competition with Destiny 2 was never expected to be long-term.

Destiny 2 The Final Shape Expect 2024
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The Division 2

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  • Release Date: March 12, 2019
  • Developer: Ubisoft

There are still ongoing Seasons and Events in TheDivision2, but it’s been a long time now since the game has received a major content update, so the game’s community isn’t as active as it once was. However, The Division franchise still has a dedicated fanbase though, so between the upcoming expansion for TheDivision2, followed by the release of The Division: Resurgence and TheDivision:Heartland coming soon, the franchise is far from being out of the competition.

Warframe

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  • Release Date: March 25, 2013
  • Developer: Digital Extreme

Warframe is arguably one of the most successful live-service games to have ever competed with Destiny 2, considering that Warframe is still receiving consistent updates +10 years after its initial release. Specifically, Warframe’s Whispers in the Walls Update was just released in December 2023. Destiny 2 may have survived the competition with Warframe thus far, but as the Steam Charts for both games currently show, this competition is still yet to reach a clear winner.