Destiny 2: Beyond Light has been delayed to November 10 - roughly six weeks past its original September 22 release target. After Shadowkeep slipped to October last year, this is the second time Bungie has delayed a major Destiny expansion.
Bungie announced the delay in a new blog post (opens in new tab) outlining its reasoning. Beyond Light is the first of a trilogy of expansions scheduled through 2022, and for that reason, Bungie says it is taking more time to prepare it. It sounds as though the work-from-home schedule that the Seattle studio adopted in response to the coronavirus, to say nothing of other production complications, has also affected its development timeline.
"The past few months have been a challenge and will continue to be during this pandemic," the studio wrote. "We’ve learned to create together in a new way, by having to work apart from one another. Despite these hurdles, we’re still committed to the same level of quality that our fans expect."
With Beyond Light now coming in November, the Season of Arrivals will continue for six weeks longer than expected. Bungie says it will share more about the content of Beyond Light, as well as how Season of Arrivals will be sustained, in the weeks ahead. There's also the question of how this delay will affect the timeline of future expansions, most notably the Witch Queen expansion scheduled for 2021.
One silver lining: the change to old-school raids that allows players to farm them for infinite loot (opens in new tab) may also continue through November, giving players more time to gear up for Beyond Light.
