"I wish these huge corporations would stop ruining things people love" — Destiny 2 fans rally with petition and call for everyone to log on June 9

I always know when gaming news has truly broken containment when I see the BBC UK website reporting on it, and the pending closure of Destiny 2 has been deemed high enough on the public interest barometer to get a whirlwind of coverage.

Bungie's announcement that active live-service development is ending with the June 9 Monument of Triumph update has sent shockwaves through the gaming industry. While they aren't pulling the plug entirely (servers will remain online in a static state) the community refuses to let a decade of memories get put on life support.

While fans mourn Bungie's tough decision, resistance is also forming, with a coordinated effort on two fronts. An online petition for Destiny 3 development to start immediately, as well as a call to action for all past and present Guardians to log in on June 9 in solidarity and support.

A community feeling abandoned

A Change.org petition for Sony to begin development on Destiny 3 already has over 45,000 signatures. I've added myself to that number as I feel Destiny 3 would be incredibly marketable for Bungie.

The petition serves as a formal plea to Sony and Bungie leadership to reconsider walking away from the IP. For many who signed, the decision to stop working on the Destiny franchise represents a community abandoned, and there's some really heartfelt comments on the page so far about how many bonds have been made via the game over the years.

"I have played destiny since the alpha in 2014, I have been here for every expansion, usually buying the most expensive version so I could get all the content once it came out. This franchise has helped me make friends that I never would have met, and got me through really tough times in my life. I dont want this world to end with Destiny 2 there's so many more stories and memories to be made if Bungie is given the time, resources, and right leadership to make a Destiny 3" — Scott

Destiny and halo were the greatest games of our time! I played Destiny since the beginning. I’ve had the best video game experiences with Destiny and the people I’ve met through it. To just abruptly end it isn’t fair to anyone. — Brandon

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Guardians Assemble on June 9th

Simultaneously, a massive call to action has been posted on the Destiny subreddit. It is urging every player, that's past, present, lapsed, or hardcore, to log into the game simultaneously on June 9. The goal is simply to flood the servers to break concurrent player records.

By creating an unprecedented spike in traffic on the day the final update drops, the community wants to hand Sony executives an undeniable, visual metric of the franchise's value.

"We need to at least smash Marathon’s all time high to show them they made the wrong decision. Heresy was amazing, the edge of fate story was interesting. They let this happen by doubling down on bad system changes and ignoring player feedback.

It’s our last chance to send a message the franchise is still valuable."

Many fans are bitter that it appears that rather than invest in making Destiny better, Sony has decided to abandon the franchise in favor of going all in on Marathon.

Whether or not Destiny is a casualty of Marathon I do not know, but as someone who had some great times with friends in Destiny 2 in it's infancy, I'll be joining the picket line on June 9th too. While it's unlikely to result in a corporate pivot, it will represent a huge swathe of players who have been touched by Destiny at some point. If it's going to ride into the sunset, it's community will make sure it goes out with a bang.

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