Here's when Destiny 2: The Final Shape releases and downtime begins
Work out when you can venture into the Pale Heart of the Traveler.
If you're as excited as I am for the launch of Destiny 2's new expansion, you'll want to know The Final Shape release time, as well as when the game is going offline for maintenance. As is usual before a brand new Destiny expansion, there's an entire day of downtime to make sure things are spick and span pre-release—though this hasn't always been the case in the past.
Expansion launches can be a bit rocky, so you'll want to preload and be ready for the exact release time so you can hop in the queue. It's also worth knowing when the game goes offline in case you have anything you need to clear up first, such as spending seasonal engrams, legendary shards, or maybe even getting in a few final daily red border weapons before they become harder to claim.
When does Destiny 2 downtime begin?
Bungie has said that Destiny 2 will go offline on June 3 at 9am PT and remain offline for an entire day before The Final Shape launches—you can see when that is in your local time here. While servers are still up as of writing this, you only have until later today to get things sorted.
I wrote a little post earlier with important tips to get prepped for The Final Shape, but essentially the most important things are spending your seasonal engrams and your legendary shards, since both of these will be going when year seven of Destiny 2 launches.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape release times
The expansion itself releases on June 4 or June 5 in some territories, around 24 hours after server downtime. If everything goes to plan, that is. The release time is the same as the usual weekly reset, but here's what that is in each timezone:
- West Coast North America: 10 am PT
- East Coast North America: 1 pm ET
- United Kingdom: 6 pm BST
- Europe: 7 pm CET
- Australia: 3 am AEST (June 5)
- Japan: 2 am JST (June 5)
Since Destiny 2 expansion launches can often be bumpy, especially in terms of server traffic and trying to login, it might take you a while to get into the game. When Lightfall launched, for example, I had to wait an hour before I was able to jump in and start playing.
There's also the possibility, as sometimes happens with the weekly reset, that server maintenance is extended by an hour or two, or that things are just a bit broken when the expansion drops. If servers are still down at the time listed above, check the Bungie Help Twitter, since this will notify if downtime has been extended or there are any issues.
Is there a Steam preload for The Final Shape?
The good news is that you can speed up getting into The Final Shape by preloading on Steam, Epic, or Microsoft. This will become available shortly after the game is taken offline for server downtime on June 3. If you want to know when that is for you, check the linked clock in the downtime section at the start of the article.