Destiny 2’s final update causes the biggest jump in players in nearly two years, as Marathon numbers coincidentally drop to near their lowest

Bungie may be done updating Destiny 2 forever, but the love players have for the sci-fi loot shooter clearly runs deep.

Monument of Triumph, the game’s final update, arrived on 9th June, and since it went live, players have been showing up in droves, causing Destiny 2 to reach peak concurrent player levels on Steam we’ve not seen in months. According to SteamDB, 9th June saw the game peak at 167,867 concurrent players.

This is a significant bump, taking it out of the sub-40,000 peak it had been stuck at since the start of the year. Last December’s Star Wars-themed Renegades expansion only managed a peak of just above 71,000, which is a long way from the all-time peak of 314,634, which the game achieved with the release of The Final Shape (and Episode: Echoes) in June 2024.

Steam only represents one side of the story, of course, but it often reflects similar activity across other platforms. While we may not see hard numbers on PlayStation or Xbox, all indicators point to similar enthusiasm on consoles.

A few things can explain why so many players have flocked back to Destiny 2. First, the final update is gigantic, touching almost the entirety of the game. It brought back some previously-vaulted content, reversed a few of the worst decisions Bungie made with recent updates (hello, Portal!), and even included content initially planned for whatever expansion was being worked on next. It was so involved, in fact, Bungie broke it down over three massive blog posts.

Monument of Triumph launched alongside a restructuring of the game and its DLC on various stores. Everything is now in Destiny 2: The Collection, a bundle that includes all expansions, excluding vaulted content that’s gone from the game forever. It is currently on sale for $25/£20.29/€24.49 – a steal!

This is a compelling offering that comes with highly-rated expansions going as far back as 2018. It was enough to push Destiny 2 up 44 spots in Steam’s global top sellers list, landing it at number two, at the time of writing – just behind Counter-Strike 2.

One must also acknowledge the concerted effort from many of Destiny 2’s most dedicated players across various communities, who have rallied to create an online petition for Destiny 3, and have been working in the background to organise a big coming-home party to celebrate the final update’s arrival. The end of Destiny 2 even touched the developer of rival series Warframe, resulting in the creation of a small tribute.

The final update has been almost universally well-received, so it at least means the game is ending things on a high. Unfortunately, the jump in Destiny 2 interest (and numbers) has also coincided with Marathon, Bungie’s extraction shooter, continuing to lose players. Following a brief recent bump thanks to a free trial, it’s starting to fall off again.

On Steam (via SteamDB), Marathon dipped to a peak concurrent of just 17,986 players and falling. Its lowest-ever peak, 10,921 players, was reached just earlier this month, and this is where the trend seems to be headed.