Destiny 2 pre-order and retailer bonuses: your guide to untangling this awful mess

News by Brenna Hillier Contributor

Published on Aug. 30, 2017

The Destiny 2 pre-order bonus situation is extremely confusing. With just a few days left on the clock, let's try to sort it out.

Destiny 2 releases next week for console, and if you're planning to buy it you may be wondering where the best place to drop your cash is in order to take advantage of those sweet, sweet pre-order bonuses.

Update: Hello! Did you end up here because you're looking for your bonus goodies in-game now that Destiny 2 has launched? Good news: we've got instructions on how to get your Kill-Tracker Ghost, Coldheart Exotic, emotes and more as part of our expanding Destiny 2 guide. Hope that helps!

There is, unfortunately, no clear answer - the whole thing is a huge mess. All Destiny 2 pre-orders come with some bonuses (on top of beta access, which is no use to you now), but there's no guaranteed way to get them all in one purchase, and what's on offer varies depending on where you make your purchase, and your home region.

Here's the executive summary, staring with digital bonuses:

Digital bonuses

While some of the digital bonuses are exclusive to pre-orders, others ship with every copy of the game sold at a particular retailer - so you don't even need to put your Destiny 2 order in early.

All Destiny 2 pre-orders include the Coldheart Exotic Trace Rifle
Battle.net, Xbox Live and PSN pre-orders come with the Salute Emote and Kill-tracker Ghost
PSN pre-orders also come with a dynamic theme
Retail sales may include either the Salute Emote or Kill-tracker Ghost, usually as a purchase bonus rather than with pre-orders

"But what about the exclusive Sparrow?" The Sparrow, dear cats, is not a pre-order or retailer purchase bonus - it's part of the Destiny 2 Pop-Tarts promotion, and available via Target in the US. Sorry.

Physical bonuses

On top of the digital bonuses, big chain retail pre-orders and sales may include an extra physical bonus. Like the digital bonuses, these aren't necessarily limited to pre-orders, but may be available while stocks last. Check the fine print at your chosen retailer carefully.

The possible physical pre-order and purchase bonuses on offer at various retailers in different territories include:

Cayde-6 vinyl figurine
Zavala vinyl figurine
Ghost vinyl figurine
Steelbook (as featured in the Limited and Collector's Editions)

However, there are multiple other Destiny 2 vinyl figures which may feature at your local retailer depending on their deal with Activision - and all of them are sold separately, too, so if you really need some new dust collectors, you can pick them up al a carte.

So where should I pre-order?

There doesn't seem to be any way to pick up absolutely every Destiny 2 bonus in one package, although we'd love to hear otherwise. For digital bonuses alone, pre-ordering through Battle.net, the PSN or Xbox Live seems your best bet - but you won't get a physical copy, if that's important to you. If it is, sorry - it really seems like you can't get all the digital bonuses at once.

So, honestly? You should just buy Destiny 2 where it's most convenient for you to do so, and you can get playing as soon as possible on release day. That may mean pre-ordering digitally for pre-load, pre-ordering via a retailer who can ship to you before or as the servers go live, or just wandering into a shop on release day - it's not like they're going to run out of copies.

If you're still confused, here's all that info again, but broken down by POS this time. It's an extract from the pre-order bonus section of our Destiny 2 guide.

PlayStation Network