Historically,Destiny 2on PC has had the smallest player base when compared to PS4 and Xbox One. But with the release of the free-to-play version of the game, known asDestiny 2: New Light, PC has now vaulted ahead to become the most popular platform forDestiny 2.
And it makes a lot of sense, as there are many factors that just recently coincided to allow this to happen. First of all,Destiny 2moved PC clientsfrom (its former publisher) Activision-Blizzard’s Battle.net launcher to Steam, which should be gettingDestiny 2in front of more users. Secondly, there is a much lower barrier to entry than ever before with the release of New Light, which offers free access a ton of the game’s content.
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Plus,Destiny 2just released its Shadowkeep expansion and kicked off Year 3, which has brought new attention to the game, including renewed hype from its already established players. All these factors have likely lead to a significant influx of players on PC. This data comes courtesy of Charlemagne, a website that usesDestiny 2’s API to track player activity.
There’s also another big factor that is likely at work to drive this move to PC, which is focused less on new players and instead explains a movement of existing players from console to PC.The addition of Cross-Save, whichDestiny 2activated late this summer allowed existingDestiny 2players to transfer their accounts over to PC from console for the first time, bringing with them everything they have earned while playing on console.
There was a large attach rate to the PS4 because ever since the launch ofDestiny 1, PS4 has received exclusive content. Because of PS4 exclusives, the PS4 became home to the game for many content creators and hardcore fans of the game. Some players moved over toDestiny 2on PC whenit released almost two months after the original console release, but many stayed on PS4 because moving to PC meant a complete reset without being able to carry over any content, including legacy content that carried over fromDestiny 1toDestiny 2and was locked to whatever consoleDestiny 1was played on.
But not only did Cross-Save allow easy transfer of players' entire accounts, with Bungie taking full self-publishing rights of theDestinyfranchise, the studio put an end to platform exclusives. That meant many console players moved over to PC to enjoy some of the things thatDestiny 2on PC can offer, likea 60+ FPS frame rate and 4K resolution. It looks like all these factors finally tipped the favors to the PC, leading to the single largest group of players on PC versus PS4 and Xbox One.
Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
