Bungie delaying Destiny 2 patch in order to avoid crunch

The Lord of Wolves weapon in Destiny 2 is considered to be quite overpowered or, in game director Luke Smith’s own words, ‘a monster’.

The good news is that the team are aware of this and a patch is coming, while the bad news is that it won’t be out until July. However, the best news is that this is all in the name of avoiding crunch.

If you’ve somehow managed to miss the topic of crunch (or ‘crunch time’ or ‘crunch culture’) in videogames, fear not: I’ve got you covered. Crunch is when people are put under pressure to sacrifice their own time and health in favour of game development and hitting certain goals.

People are often forced to work unpaid and/or mandatory overtime. Crunch can and often does lead to burnout, stress, mental breakdowns, and many other negative things. It’s a serious problem in the games industry.

Bungie don’t see the point in pushing their devs to breaking point just to nerf an overpowered weapon and, as such, they’re just leaving Lord of Wolves as it is for now.

In fact, the team and company are actually taking this in their stride. Not only do they not want to push the team to fix something that isn’t ‘broken enough to turn it off in all activities’, but they’re also creating a special Triumph to commemorate the time when they accidentally broke the Lord of Wolves.

Any Destiny 2 player who finishes an Iron Banner match will be awarded a Triumph and an associated ‘sweet’ nameplate.

You can read Luke’s full statement on the issue here.