Destiny 2's Size Is Shrinking Dramatically, But You'll Need To Re-Download The Whole Game

Destiny 2 developer Bungie is making some changes to how it updates the game, and for the upcoming Beyond Light expansion, this means you'll need to re-download the entire game--but this move comes with some good news as well.

Bungie said in a blog post that it recognizes this could be a "painful" problem for people with slow internet or caps on their data. "We're sorry about that," Bungie said.

To help make this sting less, Bungie will start pre-loading for Beyond Light on the evening of November 9 (Pacific Time), so people have at least 10 hours to download the expansion before it officially goes live on November 10.

The reason for the re-download requirement is that Bungie has "revamped [its] content building and patching pipeline" to help make downloads get smaller and install faster. Due to Destiny 2's "tremendous size," it currently takes more than 24 hours for the developer to get new patches ready, but with the Beyond Light expansion, this drops down to below 12 hours.

Additionally, Bungie is removing content from Destiny 2 that has since been upgraded or replaced. Bungie refers to this as "dead" content, and it's being removed with the Beyond Light expansion. As a result, the total install size for the game will drop by 30-40 percent.

Destiny 2's file size will now be between 59 GB and 71 GB depending on your platform.

Beyond Light launches on November 10 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it will also be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X. The expansion takes players to Jupiter's frozen moon, Europa, and temporarily "vaults" certain content, including entire planets and activities.

Destiny 2 adopted a free-to-play model some time ago, but the expansions are paid. However, Xbox One players are getting Beyond Light for free with Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, the previous expansions, Forsaken and Shadowkeep, recently became free with Xbox Game Pass, and Festival of the Lost is on the way for 2020.