Currently, things are not looking good for Destiny 2. It seems to be becoming a new hobby to take shots at Bungie and the cash shop. Bungie announces that they want to talk. However, this will not be enough, according to our author Schuhmann. Bungie now needs to break out of the cycle they have gotten themselves into.
At present, even the greatest defenders and optimists are struggling to remain positive. The reason is a nightmarish cycle that Bungie has fallen into:
They mess up something, it comes to light, they apologize for it, and then they mess up the next thing just a few days later.
Bungie is a worthy target for anyone who is critical of commercialization in gaming
This has happened so often that Bungie currently resembles a pinata filled with candy, which everyone loves to hit hard. Bungie represents an easy and attractive target for anyone who wants to engage critically with the growing commercialization in gaming. And that is a lot of people.
The underlying direction of the criticism is clear and grateful: An actually fantastic studio that has become corrupt and is now only greedy and foolish, completely deaf to the voices of the players.
Bungie has been desperately trying to distance itself from this image in the past weeks, such as through clear messages in the podcast. There, they critically reflected on the EXP fiasco: “We came off as greedy idiots here.” But such an apology does not work when the next action again comes off as greedy and foolish.
A cycle of failure
Bungie’s downfall will likely be that all content ideas and decisions had been prepared months in advance, and now they cannot change course in time.
While they are still apologizing for the mistakes made with the “fake EXP system”, the Curse of Osiris comes in and locks out non-buyers of the content. Hardly have they apologized for that, when the Dawning event takes place and turns out to be way too cash shop-heavy. Now they cannot apologize for that because the year is ending and they are going on winter break: 2017 ends on a catastrophic note for Destiny.
All of this creates a dreadful image in the public eye: Bungie actually stands as “greedy”. Bungie seems unable to break this cycle.
Bungie’s usual strategy of announcing changes and improvements falls flat when the next big news about the game is not “This will get better now”, but “Oh God, something bad has happened again.”
Forum campaign wants to abolish Eververse
The pent-up anger of fans is currently expressed in a forum campaign. Players are demanding “RemoveEverse”, Bungie should abolish the cash shop completely.
However, one cannot expect much reaction now that Bungie is going on winter break.
But they did respond to this criticism. On December 23, a tweet from Game Director Christopher Barrett stated among other things that they hear the player feedback regarding Eververse. They want players to feel respected and deliver great game content to them.
Players should expect a lot of discussions with the developer team after the turn of the year.
Old strategy of appeasement now exhausted
This is once again the “old strategy” of appeasement and announcing a dialogue that has already been attempted in recent weeks. However, it is clear that this hardly penetrates anymore. Players have heard this too often.
Given the current situation, it seems completely open how Bungie will actually react to this predicament. Perhaps a radical step is indeed necessary here, which also has symbolic character and sets a clear signal.
However, such a step does not fit Bungie and the way they usually deal with problems.
Community tired of exhausting discussions
Currently, the surrounding issues of Destiny 2 overshadow the game itself. This is not a pleasant situation and could indeed harm the franchise sustainably.
It is mainly a discussion that wears everyone down and annoys many. There is a rift in the community between those who want to talk about these issues and those who want to ignore them.
Even critical fans and content creators would prefer different topics than this ongoing negative cycle. But the longer it lasts, the harder it will be to break through it.
Let’s hope Bungie makes the right decisions by the end of the year and that discussions about Destiny 2 will take on a different tone and direction in 2018 than in the past few months. It is currently difficult to be a fan of Destiny 2.
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