The team from Destiny 2 has previously sought exchanges with the experts from Blizzard. Conversations took place with the heads of Diablo 3, Overwatch, and WoW.
There are connections between Blizzard and Bungie, which has been known for some time. However, until now, this was shrouded in mystery. Now we hear from the Destiny 2 chief how it really was.
Mystery “Secret Meeting Diablo 3 and Destiny Team”
The US site Kotaku reported two years ago about a meeting. It sounded as though Activision had organized in December 2014 for the Diablo 3 team to give a presentation at Bungie to get them “on track”.
The presentation was about how Blizzard had turned Diablo 3 around with the Reaper of Souls expansion and transformed it into a success after the launch of Diablo 3 had gone somewhat poorly.
Destiny was in a similar situation in December 2014. After a rather unsuccessful launch, Bungie also needed to make a comeback.
The Diablo 3 presentation is said to have strongly inspired the Bungie staff, leading to the creation of “The Taken King”, the magnificent Destiny expansion.
It was at least suggested that Activision, as the publisher of Diablo 3 and Destiny, had its fingers in the pie.
The Meeting in Reality
The head of Destiny 2, Luke Smith, tells in an interview what really happened. As is often the case, much is based on personal connections. The Producer of Destiny 2, Mark Noseworthy, and the Game Director of Diablo 3, Josh Mosquiera, were former colleagues at Relic and have been friends since then.
That’s why Noseworthy called the head of Diablo 3 and asked, “Hey, can’t you come over and give the presentation you put together for Gamescom years ago?”
Blizzard then actually came with a small team of several Diablo 3 designers. They delivered this super presentation that was so inspiring. Afterwards, Smith and Noseworthy hung out and chatted with some of the Diablo 3 designers, Smith recalls.
Return Visit to Blizzard: Tell us how PC works
In December 2015, they set off to Blizzard for a small Bungie-Blizzard Summit. That too was a familial event. They spoke with the Hearthstone team and with Jeff Kaplan from Overwatch. Josh Mosquiera from Diablo 3 and Tom Chilton from WoW were also there.
For Smith, as an old WoW fan, it was great to talk to Jeff Kaplan, one of the pioneers of WoW, and pick his brain about certain things.
Game Directors Among Themselves: Smith Hung Out With The Heads of WoW, Diablo 3, and Overwatch
This was not a proper “consultation”, no advising, no asking for help, but rather a conversation. Kaplan drove them to dinner in his car. The Destiny heads, Luke Smith and Jason Jones, kept their ears open for tips.
Luke Smith says: “We acknowledge Blizzard as the boss in the PC space and we are taking our first steps here. Who could give us better tips than Blizzard?”
It was great to share experiences. But there was nothing “suspicious”; it was just developers talking to each other, a kind of “private developer conference.”
The connection between Bungie and Blizzard, which was delicately established at the end of 2014 and end of 2015, is now formalized. Destiny 2 will only be available on PC through Battle.net, not via Steam:
Destiny 2 PC: 60 FPS (or more) – not on Steam, only on Battle.net
