'Destiny 2' release date news: Development in full swing for sequel's 2017 release

Twitter courtesy of Bungie

Bungie developers are currently focused on creating the sequel to the highly popular game "Destiny," Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg has said.

During the game publishing company's Q2 2016 investors' call, Hirshberg talked about the development of "Destiny 2" in the Bungie studios, according to a report from Seeking Alpha.

"The majority of the team at Bungie is actually focused entirely on creating Destiny 2, which is still on track for release next year and it's going to be awesome," the CEO said.

Hirshberg's statement supported the press release of Bungie's community manager DeeJ in February, where it was mentioned that a large expansion pack was said to be released at the later part of the year as well as a full sequel sometime in 2017.

The upcoming expansion pack, dubbed "Destiny: Rise of Iron," is scheduled for release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on Sept. 20. According to the Activision CEO, the pre-order status of the new DLC is currently surpassing the success of "Destiny: The Taken King," launched in September 2015.

"Pre-purchases and preorders on Rise of Iron are actually ahead of last year's expansion The Taken King, which is evidence of the continued passionate engagement for this game and this universe from our community, and we'll also have more updates planned for this year to continue to keep people engaged," Hirshberg said.

Meanwhile, Bungie is gearing up to unveil new details about "Destiny: Rise of Iron" DLC weeks prior to the expansion pack's release. In a video posted on the game developers' website, Bungie revealed that they will talk about new details of the Crucible as well as the added context of the game while players see two Fireteams battle each other.

Reports also mention that "Destiny: Rose of Iron" DLC will come out with new Crucible maps, gear and raid as well as additional quests. It will also feature the return of the Gjallarhorn.