The current DLC “Curse of Osiris” for Destiny 2 shows that Bungie has learned. But the problems lie in the past – Bungie is grappling with the megalomaniacal master plan that was once negotiated with Activision.
Destiny – the biggest and most expensive game of all time! A game for ten years. These statements from 2013 or 2014 still resonate with many. The reason for these superlatives was a master plan that Activision and Bungie had negotiated, which was supposed to continuously supply the franchise with content for ten years.
Ten years of Destiny – ten years of 3 content releases annually
Upon closer examination, the original content plan for Destiny was madness. We know that today.
Years before the release of Destiny, Bungie and Activision had concocted crazy plans about how this ten-year franchise Destiny should be fed with new gameplay content. They were, to put it mildly: overly optimistic.
The plan was: Destiny should receive 2 DLCs every year along with either an expansion (Comet) or a new game. This was supposed to run for 10 years – like on an assembly line:
- 2013 Destiny 1 and 2 DLCs
- 2014 2 DLCs and the expansion for Destiny 1
- 2015 2 DLCs and Destiny 2
and it continued until 2023.
Effort apparently underestimated
Because the DLCs or expansions require relatively long production cycles, at least 4 or 5 “parts” of Destiny would have been continuously in development, all parallel to each other, in various stages of development. Initially, there would only be a small production team for planning, later the teams would swell, finish the project, and then switch to the next one.
This was Bungie’s plan – already in 2014 it was stated: “Of course, we are already working on Destiny 2.”
Today we know: This plan was not sustainable. It was a castle in the air. Bungie and Activision apparently underestimated the effort. While Bungie swelled to about 500 employees before Destiny, that was still not enough. Not to mention that Bungie was managing a live title for the first time.
According to rumors, weaknesses in the coordination of this mammoth project also emerged. Additionally, there were supposed to be difficulties with the engine. It was reportedly cumbersome to produce gameplay content for Destiny 2 or to really work on the game. Allegedly, it took a night to move a container on a map. But this is unconfirmed.
These 3 problems bring the master plan for Destiny to its knees
This concept, that a Destiny release is actually upcoming every 4 months, had three problems:
- There were constantly issues with the current live game – which Bungie apparently underestimated. The developer teams could not only work on the next content but also had to repair and redesign the current game, solving concrete problems that could not wait months
- Additionally, the DLCs in Year 1 were “too weak”; there was hardly anything new. Missions were only replayed, and the Guardians complained that it was too little for the price. Under these circumstances, Bungie probably could not develop any “substantial DLCs”
- And even worse: If an expansion was delayed, then people would be pulled from other teams to finish it on time. Then they could no longer work on the next DLC, and due to the delay in one part, the content chain toppled like a row of dominoes
While Bungie could still somewhat maintain the content plan in Year 1 (2014/2015) because they had worked ahead before the launch of Destiny I, it quickly became clear: The whole system was collapsing.
2015 showed cracks, 2016 saw the plan collapse
Already in Year 2 (2015/2016) Bungie threw in the towel and said: This just can’t work. Our content plans are not sustainable. We are canceling the DLCs for Year 2; instead, we are bringing free updates.
However, shortly thereafter came the next disaster news: Destiny 2 was rebooted and postponed to 2017. In Year 2, instead of Destiny 2, only a stopgap expansion (Rise of Iron) was released, and Year 3 (2016/2017) remained blank until a presumably stripped-down Destiny 2 appeared, which now no hardcore players have good things to say about.
All of this were still consequences of the “too ambitious content plan” of the previous years. But now with the DLC Curse of Osiris and Year 4 (2017/2018), the dark phase could come to an end.
Glimmer of hope: Even more resources
Even though Destiny 2 is currently suffering from some problems stemming from its casual orientation, there are now glimmers of hope. Activision and Bungie apparently want to try again to adhere to the original plan, but they know now that they need to allocate more resources to it and plan better.
Now Activision’s promise of a “steady stream of content for Destiny 2” has finally kicked in.
This has led to Bungie being further reinforced (currently, about 700 people are working on Destiny 2), and additional studios are involved in the DLCs for Destiny 2.
We are now seeing the first effects with Curse of Osiris. Compared to the 1st DLC of Destiny 1 “Darkness Awaits” (2014) Osiris offers significantly more: for the first time, a new zone comes.
Changes only arrive years late
All these decisions and the lessons learned only reach the players with a delay because the production cycles for the individual gameplay elements of Destiny are so long.
In 2015, Activision apparently recognized the problems and tasked an external studio, High Moon Studio, with Destiny to assist Bungie. We will likely not see their first contribution to Destiny 2 until 3 years later, in the spring of 2018. The new structures at Bungie also take years to fully take effect.
It will therefore take a long time before we realize which direction the Destiny franchise will develop in the long term and whether lessons have been learned from past mistakes.
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