6 MMOs and online games that turned around after a bad launch

Destiny (1)

What kind of game is Destiny? The multiplayer online shooter from Bungie features MMO elements but focuses on action. Destiny is particularly known for its fantastic first-person gunplay on consoles. It is said that Destiny established MMO games on consoles.

Players choose from three classes with different abilities. As Guardians, they fight against alien invaders in a dark future. There is now a sequel, Destiny 2.

Release: 09.09.2014 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Platforms: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Year of Change: 2015

What Was Destiny’s Problem?

The shared-world shooter from Bungie was something new that the world was eagerly anticipating. However, when Destiny was released in 2014, the loot shooter initially received mixed reviews.

For instance, Polygon rated it only 6/10 and the magazine is not exactly known for negative reviews. 4Players missed the creativity of Bungie and accused Destiny 1 of being simply banal.

The story of Destiny was described as shallow, and no one knew where the plot was really heading.
Especially the bosses in the strikes (dungeons) were criticized. They were referred to as bullet sponges that could withstand absurd amounts of damage.
The strikes were considered monotonous, and the loot you received for the dungeons was described as unsatisfactory by the critics. A strike guaranteed a loot drop – but that didn’t necessarily mean it improved your gear.

The dungeon bosses were considered uninteresting. They were referred to as bullet sponges.

The endgame was considered weak. Anyone looking to progress after reaching max level had to play the same thin content over and over to have a slim chance for an upgrade.
Players expecting a “Halo Online” from Bungie found nothing appealing about the MMO gameplay and wished for a traditional first-person shooter.
The balance was criticized in PvP. How well someone performed in PvP depended on their own player progression.

Destiny faced harsh criticism upon release. It was said that the game world was generic and empty. The epic adventure that Bungie promised was absent for many players.

The first two DLCs in 2015 were criticized as “too small”.

Where should Destiny 1 go after all the criticism?

How did Destiny solve its problem?

After the initial criticisms, hardly anyone expected anything great from the shared-world shooter.

Despite the criticisms, Destiny managed to win a loyal core of players. The gunplay and the unusual MMO aspects on consoles kept the Guardians coming back to the game.

Especially the first raid “The Glass Chamber” was praised by many – but in the first year, the criticism prevailed that Destiny had so much potential that it wasn’t exploiting and generally offered too little content.

The turning point for Destiny was then to come in 2015 with the expansion “King of the Possessed“.

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“King of the Possessed” addressed many points of criticism from players and media:

The story now made sense and gained significance. Especially the dramatically well-staged cutscenes were praised.
“King of the Possessed” gave players significantly more to do after completing the story campaign. Here, a real flood of quests began. Almost every NPC offered a task.
Bungie brought more variety into the monotonous mission design. This was particularly noticeable in the strikes (dungeons). They moved away from bullet sponge enemies and now required tactical teamwork from players.
The character level was no longer determined by equipment. Players had to level up to 40 through experience points. This directly helped balance in PvP.

The GamePro’s review of “The Taken King” summarizes aptly:

Overall, The Taken King eliminates many of the initial flaws of the main game and additionally offers several consistently successful innovations that make Destiny a better game overall.
Mirco Kämpfer, GamePro

Destiny struck back and hit the biggest criticisms in the core.

A new era for Destiny should now begin. “The Taken King” even managed to impress the strongest critics. Polygon also adjusted its original score from 6. For “The Taken King”, Polygon rated it an 8.5 this time.

Suddenly, Destiny was on everyone’s lips and the media started reporting about the game again. A real hype emerged around this innovative “Shared World Shooter”, which would last for several more years. There was simply nothing comparable.

Destiny became an incredible financial success for developer Bungie and publisher Activision. Even in 2016, when hardly anything happened in Destiny, the game made nearly as much in digital sales as The Division did in its launch year – Destiny generated $214.1 million in a weak year.

How is Destiny doing today?

At the end of 2017, Bungie released the successor Destiny 2. With the sequel, PC players could finally take on the role of a Guardian. This was previously only possible on consoles.

Shortly after the release of Destiny 2, the game found itself in a crisis again. Social media was full of angry players who felt betrayed by Bungie. The content drought was especially harshly criticized. The situation worsened from 2017 to 2018.

As with Destiny 1, an expansion in Destiny 2 was supposed to bring about a turnaround: “Forsaken”. This article describes how Destiny 2 improved with the DLC: