The director of the popular online shooter Destiny 2 announced that he would be stepping down and leaving the company.
Destiny 2 game director Joe Blackburn has announced that he will leave Bungie. Blackburn joined Bungie in 2015 as a raid designer and later led the game’s Season of Opulence development. He left Bungie for Riot Games in 2019 but returned to the company in 2020. Upon returning to Bungie, Blackburn took the Destiny 2’s director job. Blackburn decided to leave the company after completing the playtest of Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion.
The Final Shape’s internal playtest will begin in February, and the expansion will release on June 4, 2024. Tyson Green, a former Halo veteran who worked on Halo 2 and 3 multiplayer and longtime Bungie designer, will replace Blackburn.
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Blackburn’s departure is a setback for Bungie because staff members have always held him in high regard despite widespread layoffs and intense resentment toward management. Even the people who lost their jobs wish Blackburn well on social media and express how much they have enjoyed working with him over the years.
Joe Blackburn Announced His Departure
On January 31, 2024, Joe Blackburn announced his decision to leave Bungie in a series of tweets following the ending of the ‘End-to-End playtest’ for Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which is scheduled to begin in February 2024.
Blackburn did not reveal his next destination in his Twitter/X posts but mentioned that he plans to take a break from social media.
Next month, The Final Shape will be hitting one of its most critical internal milestones: a ritual we call the End-to-End playtest.
This ritual has been a key part of development since Forsaken.
It’s multiple days of consecutive internal playtesting that not only generates incredibly valuable closing feedback on everything coming this summer, but also spiritually kicks off a shift towards bug fixing and polish work.
Heading into this milestone, I’ve gotten to play 100s of hours of The Final Shape, and what the world-class talent here at Bungie has created has quickly become of the things I’m most proud to have worked on throughout my career.
This ritual will be especially meaningful to me personally, as it will also serve as a moment to pass the torch of Destiny 2 Game Director to the next era of leadership as I head on a new adventure outside the walls of Bungie.
As we hit End-to-End next month, Tyson Green will take the reins as D2 Game Director. If you’ve followed Bungie for any length of time, you’ve heard his name. From Halo PvP to the creation of Exotic weapons in D1, Tyson has been a critical part of Bungie’s legacy since Myth II.
As a deeply invested Guardian before starting here at Bungie, getting to be a part of the Destiny 2 team has been the privilege of a lifetime.
I am and will forever remain a lifelong Bungie fan and believer in what the teams within its walls are capable of.
I’ve still got some time before I pass the torch, but as I look forward to taking a big break from social media, I know I’ll see yall around the Tower. It is going to be great to play Destiny alongside all of you.
@joegoroth on Twitter/X
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