Destiny 2: The Final Shape release date — Launch time, preloads, download size, and more

Ever since the original Destiny released in 2014, developer Bungie has released yearly expansions for the space fantasy looter shooter that push the narrative of its colossal 10 year-long "Light and Darkness Saga" forward. Now, all of that buildup has led to The Final Shape — an incredibly ambitious and climactic Destiny 2 DLC that aims to give that saga a fulfilling conclusion while simultaneously kicking off a new era of new stories for Guardians to experience.

With Destiny 2 going through a massive resurgence right now following the disastrous reception of 2023's Lightfall DLC, all eyes are on Bungie and The Final Shape to see if the studio can stick the landing and give Destiny's decade-long narrative the capstone it deserves. Luckily, we won't have to wait long to find out, as the expansion is almost upon us.

Ahead of its highly anticipated arrival, I've put together a guide below that goes over everything you need to know about Destiny 2: The Final Shape's release date. This includes its launch time, when you can preload the DLC, and what we know of its download size, along with a brief overview of what to expect from the content and activities in the expansion.

What is Destiny 2: The Final Shape?

Destiny 2: The Final Shape | Launch Trailer - YouTube

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I'll go over when The Final Shape will be in your hands shortly, but first: what's all the hype about, anyway? Well, as I wrote above, the expansion represents the climax of a story that's been developing for a full decade at this point, complete with deep and nuanced character arcs, a plethora of thoroughly explored themes, and mountains of rich, in-depth lore. It's a journey many Destiny players have been a part of since their childhood or adolescence, and its end — as well as the subsequent dawn of a new era — will be a landmark moment for the franchise.

The DLC will take players inside of the benevolent Light-bestowing Traveler itself as they pursue the Witness, Destiny's primary antagonist that aims to coalesce the paracausal energies of Light and Darkness to calcify the universe into lifeless stasis. To combat the Witness and its Darkness allies, Guardians will gain access to Prismatic, an incredibly dynamic subclass that allows you to use and combine abilities, Aspects, and Fragments from various Light and Darkness subclasses. Prismatic is unlocked very early in The Final Shape's story campaign, though once the expansion's new raid is beaten after its release on June 7 and its second week begins on June 11, players will be able to earn special Exotic class items with two Exotic perks that will take Prismatic buildcrafting to the next level.

The Final Shape is also bringing new Light Aspects and Supers to all three of Destiny 2's classes, and will feature plenty of powerful weapons and Exotics to chase within the Traveler's "Pale Heart" as well. Then, beyond the core of the DLC, there's also The Final Shape's "Episodes," which are replacing Destiny 2's quarterly seasonal releases in Year 7. Separate from the expansion itself, these three longform seasons will launch throughout 2024-25 and will transition the game from the Light and Darkness Saga to new adventures. Access to their content will cost $15 each, though the Annual Pass edition of The Final Shape includes it; the first Episode is Echoes, seems to be centered around the Vex, and will launch alongside The Final Shape.

Note that for a limited time, preorders for The Final Shape and copies of other Destiny 2 expansions are on sale for up to 87% off, making now a superb time to start playing (or return to) the game if you're a newcomer. These deals are expected to go away once The Final Shape launches, so I'd pull the trigger on them sooner rather than later.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape | $49.99 $40.29 at CDKeys (Steam)

The Final Shape isn't even out yet, but you can preorder it  now for a sweet 20% discount. It will cap off Destiny's decade-long Light and Darkness Saga with a brand new campaign that takes you inside the Traveler, a new raid coming June 7, the "multiclassing" Prismatic subclass, plenty of powerful new gear, and more.

Also see: The Final Shape (GMG) | The Final Shape + Annual Pass (CDKeys) | The Final Shape + Annual Pass (GMG)

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Destiny 2: The Final Shape release date, start time

After a long wait made even longer by a delay late last year, Destiny 2: The Final Shape is coming out on June 4, 2024. Specifically, the expansion will go live at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET, which is the time of day for Destiny 2's daily and weekly reset. At this time, players will be able to access The Final Shape's campaign and other activities, though keep in mind that The Final Shape's raid doesn't release until three days later on June 7.

In the table below, you'll find conversions of The Final Shape's start date and time for all of the major time zones around the world. Using this, you can determine when access to the DLC will unlock in your region. Note that depending on where you live, you may not be able to play the expansion until very early in the morning on June 5.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Destiny 2's servers will be under heavy strain on The Final Shape's launch day, which means getting into the game may be pretty difficult. You may have to wait in a long queue, though since this wasn't much of a problem with Lightfall despite the record-breaking concurrent player count of 316,750 on Steam on its release day, the launch of The Final Shape may be relatively smooth as well.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape server downtime

Destiny 2's servers were taken down for maintenance on Monday, June 3 at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET and won't come back online until the expansion comes out. In total, this downtime will last 25 hours if everything goes according to plan, though there's always a chance it might last longer and The Final Shape's release could be slightly delayed if there are unforeseen issues Bungie has to take care of before bringing the servers back up.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape preload date

To make sure you can jump right into The Final Shape as soon as it's out, you'll want to pre-download — or preload — the expansion ahead of its release. Fortunately, you can preload it now during the 25-hour maintenance period directly before the DLC's launch. Make sure you check the below section for details on how much storage you'll need.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape storage requirements

Destiny 2's annual DLCs typically have fairly large download sizes, though the size of the game overall hasn't gotten much bigger in recent years. We don't know the download size of The Final Shape itself, but thanks to a recent This Week in Destiny blog post, we do have Destiny 2's storage requirements that have been updated to include the expansion. They're listed in the table below:

If you're planning to preload The Final Shape and are playing on Steam, the Epic Games Store, or PS4, you'll also need a sizable amount of additional free space to do so; this requirement isn't present in the Xbox and Microsoft Store versions of the looter shooter. Note that even though Destiny 2 requires having this extra space available to preload the game, it will be freed up once the expansion actually goes live.

Destiny 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games for fans of multiplayer and looter shooters, and The Final Shape — the final expansion in the Light and Darkness Saga — looks to be the biggest DLC that Bungie's popular live service game has ever gotten.