PS4 players could miss first day of Destiny 2: The Witch Queen due to preload issue, admits Bungie

Due to an 'unforeseen issue' PS4 players will be unable to pre-load Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. 

It's a big day for Destiny 2 players - The Witch Queen marks the first expansion for the shooter since Beyond Light was released way back in November 2020. You can literally count down the hours until release, the expansion is coming out at 5PM GMT/ 12PM ET/ 9AM PT. 

For PlayStation 4 players, there is some bad news though. Bungie has announced that due to an "Unforeseen issue", pre-load isn't available on the last-gen console. 

In a tweet, the BungieHelp Twitter account said: 

This means that if you plan to play The Witch Queen on PS4 you will have to wait until it has launched before you can begin downloading the expansion, let alone start playing it.  

This is obviously a big issue. The PlayStation player base makes up a 38% portion of the entire Destiny population (based on estimates from Warmind.io). It's also a little embarrassing, considering Bungie is now a Sony-owned studio. 

While it's not clear exactly how much of that community still plays on PS4, due to shortages of the PS5, it's likely still a sizeable percentage of the player base. This issue is made worse by the fact that the PS4 has notorious issues when it comes to not just downloading content, but copying it onto the system. For those in Europe, it's not entirely out of the question that PS4 players will miss the entire first evening with the Witch Queen. 

How to potentially mitigate the issue

For those looking for solutions to help out, there are a couple of things to help mitigate. First of all, periodically look up BungieHelp to see if there are any updates. It's possible this issue sees progress, as the account did ask players to "stay tuned for updates".

Another option is to try and get Destiny 2 downloaded onto another platform. The game features full cross-save and crossplay. If you have a gaming PC or a Stadia account (which does offer a month-long free trial) and have your account set up for the feature, you can roll into servers with everyone else.

Though, beware, while you will be able to load into Destiny 2, your DLC purchases are tied to your platform, so you won't be able to jump into the Witch Queen's story or Savathun's Throneworld. You will be able to play the main game, explore the revamped sandbox and interact with other core activities like Strikes, Crucible, and the revamped Gambit. 

It's not the most exciting way to spend a launch, but it will be more productive than looking at a progress bar for several hours. It also allows you to start trying new builds and the newly buffed weapons to start getting a feel for what is working. 

However, this is not ideal. It's a problem for a sizeable portion of the audience. Here's hoping a solution is found before the expansion goes live.

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