Destiny 2 will become Google Stadia’s first free-to-play game. Starting on November 19, Bungie’s looter shooter will be free for all Stadia users regardless of whether or not they have a subscription.
Anyone with an account for the Stadia cloud-gaming service will be able to play Destiny 2: New Light, which features the core free-to-play game with no expansions. The game is already free to play on services like Steam, but this is the first time Stadia has made a title free.
Players who grab the game will get access to many of Stadia’s perks, including being able to play across devices, but there are some notable caveats. The game will be locked at 1080p without a Pro subscription.
As is the case on all platforms, the game currently doesn’t support crossplay, though Bungie says it plans to add it down the line. That means that Stadia users can only play the game with other Stadia users, which is something for fans to consider when deciding where to play. Destiny 2’s Stadia-specific player base has been erratic over the past year. The game’s player base dropped by 50% in January, coming down to nearly 8,000 players total.
The game’s current lack of crossplay support for any platform combined with Stadia’s smaller user base may not give players Destiny 2’s full social experience. However, the free-to-play move gives players who’ve yet to experience Google Stadia a chance to finally try out its features.
The free release drops exactly one year after Stadia’s initial launch. The platform originally launched with Destiny 2: The Collection, which included all of the game’s DLC content up to that point. The collection is leaving Stadia on November 19, but current Pro subscribers can add it to their library before it leaves in order to keep it.
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